Head-To-Head Contrast: Manchester United (NYSE:MANU) versus Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE:VAC)

Manchester United (NYSE:MANU) and Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE:VAC) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Dividends

Manchester United pays an annual dividend of $0.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Marriott Vacations Worldwide pays an annual dividend of $3.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Manchester United pays out -36.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marriott Vacations Worldwide pays out 47.5% 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. Marriott Vacations Worldwide has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Marriott Vacations Worldwide is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Manchester United has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marriott Vacations Worldwide has a beta of 1.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

23.3% of Manchester United shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.5% of Marriott Vacations Worldwide shares are held by institutional investors. 68.6% of Manchester United shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Marriott Vacations Worldwide shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Manchester United and Marriott Vacations Worldwide, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Manchester United	1	0	1	0	2.00
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	2	1	4	0	2.29

Manchester United currently has a consensus price target of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 38.23%. Marriott Vacations Worldwide has a consensus price target of $92.67, indicating a potential upside of 40.33%. Given Marriott Vacations Worldwide’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Marriott Vacations Worldwide is more favorable than Manchester United.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Manchester United and Marriott Vacations Worldwide”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Manchester United	$666.51 million	4.30	-$42.74 million	($0.25)	-66.56
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	$4.97 billion	0.46	$218.00 million	$6.65	9.93

Marriott Vacations Worldwide has higher revenue and earnings than Manchester United. Manchester United is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marriott Vacations Worldwide, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Manchester United and Marriott Vacations Worldwide’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Manchester United	-4.92%	-9.58%	-1.09%
Marriott Vacations Worldwide	5.10%	11.74%	2.92%

Summary

Marriott Vacations Worldwide beats Manchester United on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Manchester United

Manchester United plc, together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates a professional sports team in the United Kingdom. It operates Manchester United Football Club, a professional football club. The company develops marketing and sponsorship relationships with international and regional companies to leverage its brand. It also markets and sells sports apparel, training and leisure wear, and other clothing; and other licensed products, such as coffee mugs and bed spreads featuring the Manchester United brand and trademarks, as well as distributes these products through Manchester United branded retail centers and e-commerce platforms, and through the company’s partners’ wholesale distribution channels. In addition, the company distributes live football content directly, as well as through commercial partners; broadcasts television rights relating to the Premier League, Union of European Football Associations club competitions, and other competitions; and delivers Manchester United programming through MUTV television channel to territories worldwide. Further, it operates Old Trafford, a sports venue with 74,240 seats, as well as invests in properties. The company was formerly known as Manchester United Ltd. changed its name to Manchester United plc in August 2012. Manchester United plc was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Manchester, the United Kingdom.

About Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation, a vacation company, develops, markets, sells, and manages vacation ownership and related businesses, products, and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Vacation Ownership and Exchange & Third-Party Management. The company manages vacation ownership and related products under the Marriott Vacation Club, Grand Residences by Marriott, Sheraton Vacation Club, Westin Vacation Club, Hyatt Vacation Club, and Marriott Vacation Club Pulse brands. It develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership and related products under The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club brand; and holds right to develop, market, and sell ownership residential products under The Ritz-Carlton Residences brand. In addition, the company offers exchange networks and membership programs, as well as provision of management services to other resorts and lodging properties through Interval International, and Aqua-Aston business brands. Further, it provides financing consumer purchases of vacation ownership products, and renting vacation ownership inventory. The company sells its upscale tier vacation ownership products primarily through a network of resort-based sales centers and off-site sales locations. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.