Critical Review: Hyatt Hotels (H) versus The Competition

Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) is one of 382 publicly-traded companies in the “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Hyatt Hotels to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.5% of Hyatt Hotels shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.7% of shares of all “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies are held by institutional investors. 23.6% of Hyatt Hotels shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.1% of shares of all “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Hyatt Hotels has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hyatt Hotels’ competitors have a beta of 1.44, indicating that their average share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Hyatt Hotels and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hyatt Hotels	$7.11 billion	-$52.00 million	96.01
Hyatt Hotels Competitors	$3.73 billion	$250.18 million	-162.17

Hyatt Hotels has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Hyatt Hotels is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Hyatt Hotels pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Hyatt Hotels pays out 31.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.2% and pay out 39.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Hyatt Hotels has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Hyatt Hotels and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hyatt Hotels	0	6	11	0	2.65
Hyatt Hotels Competitors	3807	17300	25620	906	2.50

Hyatt Hotels currently has a consensus target price of $200.62, indicating a potential upside of 8.27%. As a group, “Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure” companies have a potential upside of 59.02%. Given Hyatt Hotels’ competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Hyatt Hotels has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Hyatt Hotels and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hyatt Hotels	2.62%	11.63%	2.99%
Hyatt Hotels Competitors	8.52%	-40.63%	2.09%

Summary

Hyatt Hotels beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Hyatt Hotels

Hyatt Hotels Corporation operates as a hospitality company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Owned and Leased Hotels, Americas Management and Franchising, ASPAC Management and Franchising, EAME Management and Franchising, and Apple Leisure Group segments. The company manages, franchises, licenses, owns, and leases portfolio of properties, consisting of full-service hotels and resorts, select service hotels, and other properties, including timeshare, fractional, residential, vacation, and condominium units. It operates its properties under the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt, Hyatt vacation Club, Hyatt Place, Hyatt House, Hyatt Studios, UrCove, Miraval, Alila, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, Dream Hotels, Hyatt Centric, Caption by Hyatt, The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Destination by Hyatt, JdV by Hyatt, Hyatt Ziva, Hyatt Zilara, Zoëtry Wellness & Spa Resorts, Secrets Resorts & Spas, Breathless Resorts & Spas, Dreams Resorts & Spas, Hyatt Vivid Hotel & Resorts, Alua Hotels & Resorts, Sunscape Resorts & Spas, Maison Métier, and The Barnett brand name. The company offers short-term vacation rental platform, Homes & Hideaways by World of Hyatt, that features direct booking for short-term private home rentals in the United States. It primarily serves corporations; national, state, and regional associations; specialty market accounts, including social, government, military, educational, religious, and fraternal organizations; travel agency and luxury organizations; and a group of individual consumers. It also operates World of Hyatt loyalty program, which rewards points that can be redeemed for hotel nights and other rewards. Hyatt Hotels Corporation was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.