Cedar Fair (NYSE:FUN – Get Free Report) and Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV – Get Free Report) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Cedar Fair and Live Nation Entertainment”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Cedar Fair | $1.82 billion | 2.55 | $124.56 million | ($0.64) | -72.03 |
| Live Nation Entertainment | $23.32 billion | 1.35 | $315.84 million | $0.94 | 144.63 |
Live Nation Entertainment has higher revenue and earnings than Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Live Nation Entertainment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Cedar Fair | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 2.79 |
| Live Nation Entertainment | 0 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 2.94 |
Cedar Fair presently has a consensus price target of $56.07, suggesting a potential upside of 21.63%. Live Nation Entertainment has a consensus price target of $144.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.17%. Given Cedar Fair’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Cedar Fair is more favorable than Live Nation Entertainment.
Profitability
This table compares Cedar Fair and Live Nation Entertainment’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Cedar Fair | 0.99% | 113.05% | 2.41% |
| Live Nation Entertainment | 2.11% | 77.62% | 2.48% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
64.7% of Cedar Fair shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.5% of Live Nation Entertainment shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Cedar Fair shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Live Nation Entertainment shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Cedar Fair has a beta of 1.58, indicating that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Live Nation Entertainment has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Live Nation Entertainment beats Cedar Fair on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Cedar Fair
Cedar Fair, L.P. owns and operates amusement and water parks, as well as complementary resort facilities. Its amusement parks include Cedar Point located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo in Sandusky, Ohio; Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles, California; Canada's Wonderland near Toronto, Ontario; Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kings Dominion situated near Richmond, Virginia; California's Great America located in Santa Clara, California; Dorney Park in Pennsylvania; Worlds of Fun located in Kansas City, Missouri; Valleyfair situated near Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Michigan's Adventure situated near Muskegon, Michigan; Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort New Braunfels in New Braunfels, Texas; and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston in Galveston, Texas. The company also owns and operates the Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Resort, Hotel Breakers, Cedar Point's Express Hotel, and Sawmill Creek Resort. Cedar Fair, L.P. was founded in 1983 and is based in Sandusky, Ohio.
About Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. operates as a live entertainment company worldwide. It operates through Concerts, Ticketing, and Sponsorship & Advertising segments. The Concerts segment promotes live music events in its owned or operated venues, and in rented third-party venues. This segment operates and manages music venues; produces music festivals; creates and streams associated content; and offers management and other services to artists. The Ticketing segment manages the ticketing operations, including the provision of ticketing software and services to clients and consumers with marketplace for tickets and event information through mobile apps, other websites, retail outlets, and its primary websites, such as livenation.com and ticketmaster.com; and provides ticket resale services. This segment sells tickets for its events and third-party clients in various live event categories. This segment offers ticketing services for arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, music clubs, concert promoters, professional sports franchises and leagues, college sports teams, performing arts venues, museums, and theaters. The Sponsorship & Advertising segment sells international, national, and local sponsorships and placement of advertising, including signage, online, and promotional programs; rich media offering that comprises advertising related with live streaming and music-related content; and ads across its distribution network of venues, events, and websites. This segment also manages the development of strategic sponsorship programs, as well as develops, books, and produces custom events or programs for specific brands. It owns, operates, or leases entertainment venues. The company was formerly known as Live Nation, Inc. and changed its name to Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. in January 2010. Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California.
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