Comparing PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) & Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG)

PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) and Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares PetMed Express and Booking’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PetMed Express	0.14%	0.37%	0.23%
Booking	22.58%	-143.67%	23.29%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PetMed Express and Booking”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PetMed Express	$281.06 million	0.25	-$7.46 million	$0.01	345.00
Booking	$23.74 billion	7.84	$5.88 billion	$160.74	35.60

Booking has higher revenue and earnings than PetMed Express. Booking is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PetMed Express, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk and Volatility

PetMed Express has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Booking has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.3% of PetMed Express shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Booking shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of PetMed Express shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Booking shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for PetMed Express and Booking, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PetMed Express	1	1	0	0	1.50
Booking	0	10	19	2	2.74

PetMed Express currently has a consensus price target of $3.35, suggesting a potential downside of 2.90%. Booking has a consensus price target of $5,388.37, suggesting a potential downside of 5.84%. Given PetMed Express’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe PetMed Express is more favorable than Booking.

Summary

Booking beats PetMed Express on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PetMed Express

PetMed Express, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a pet pharmacy in the United States. The company markets prescription and non-prescription pet medications, health products, and other supplies for dogs, cats, and horses. It offers non-prescription medications and supplies, such as flea and tick control products, bone and joint care products, vitamins, treats, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, and household pet supplies; and prescription medications, including heartworm preventatives, flea and tick preventatives, arthritis, dermatitis, thyroid, diabetes, pain medications, heart/blood pressure, and other specialty medications, as well as generic substitutes. The company also sells food, beds, crates, stairs, and other pet supplies. It sells its products through its Internet website; mobile app; customer support center; and direct mail/print, which includes brochures and postcards. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida.

About Booking

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc., is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands. Its other brands include KAYAK, Rentalcars.com and OpenTable, Inc. (OpenTable). As of December 31, 2016, Booking.com offered accommodation reservation services for over 1,115,000 properties in over 220 countries and territories on its various Websites and in over 40 languages, which included over 568,000 vacation rental properties (updated property counts were available on the Booking.com Website).