Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) vs. Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) Head-To-Head Comparison

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) and Boyd Gaming (NYSE:BYD) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Dividends

Electronic Arts pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Boyd Gaming pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Electronic Arts pays out 19.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Boyd Gaming pays out 3.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Boyd Gaming has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Boyd Gaming is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.2% of Electronic Arts shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.8% of Boyd Gaming shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Electronic Arts shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Boyd Gaming shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Electronic Arts has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Boyd Gaming has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Electronic Arts and Boyd Gaming, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Electronic Arts	1	25	4	2	2.22
Boyd Gaming	1	7	7	0	2.40

Electronic Arts currently has a consensus target price of $179.38, indicating a potential downside of 10.53%. Boyd Gaming has a consensus target price of $89.67, indicating a potential upside of 12.74%. Given Boyd Gaming’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Boyd Gaming is more favorable than Electronic Arts.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Electronic Arts and Boyd Gaming”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Electronic Arts	$7.47 billion	6.71	$1.12 billion	$3.99	50.25
Boyd Gaming	$3.93 billion	1.62	$577.95 million	$22.88	3.48

Electronic Arts has higher revenue and earnings than Boyd Gaming. Boyd Gaming is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Electronic Arts, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Electronic Arts and Boyd Gaming’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Electronic Arts	13.94%	18.43%	9.93%
Boyd Gaming	46.02%	41.97%	9.36%

Summary

Boyd Gaming beats Electronic Arts on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. develops, markets, publishes, and distributes games, content, and services for game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and tablets worldwide. It develops and publishes games and services across various genres, such as sports, racing, first-person shooter, action, role-playing, and simulation primarily under the Battlefield, The Sims, Apex Legends, Need for Speed, and license games from others, including FIFA, Madden NFL, UFC, and Star Wars brands. The company licenses its games to third parties to distribute and host its games. It markets and sells its games and services through digital distribution and retail channels, as well as directly to mass market retailers, specialty stores, and distribution arrangements. Electronic Arts Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

About Boyd Gaming

Boyd Gaming Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-jurisdictional gaming company in Nevada, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The company operates through Las Vegas Locals, Downtown Las Vegas, Midwest & South, and Online segments. It also engages in owning and operating a travel agency. Boyd Gaming Corporation was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.