Reviewing Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) and Lucky Strike Entertainment (NYSE:LUCK)

Lucky Strike Entertainment (NYSE:LUCK) and Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Lucky Strike Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lucky Strike Entertainment	-2.87%	N/A	-1.05%
Las Vegas Sands	12.59%	133.90%	9.99%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

68.1% of Lucky Strike Entertainment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.2% of Las Vegas Sands shares are held by institutional investors. 84.2% of Lucky Strike Entertainment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Las Vegas Sands shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Lucky Strike Entertainment pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Las Vegas Sands pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Lucky Strike Entertainment pays out -70.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Las Vegas Sands pays out 46.7% 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. Las Vegas Sands has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Lucky Strike Entertainment is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Volatility and Risk

Lucky Strike Entertainment has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Las Vegas Sands has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Lucky Strike Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lucky Strike Entertainment	3	6	4	0	2.08
Las Vegas Sands	0	10	11	0	2.52

Lucky Strike Entertainment presently has a consensus target price of $8.39, indicating a potential upside of 67.14%. Las Vegas Sands has a consensus target price of $60.16, indicating a potential upside of 66.27%. Given Lucky Strike Entertainment’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Lucky Strike Entertainment is more favorable than Las Vegas Sands.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lucky Strike Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lucky Strike Entertainment	$1.25 billion	0.55	-$35.78 million	($0.34)	-14.76
Las Vegas Sands	$13.02 billion	1.80	$1.63 billion	$2.57	14.08

Las Vegas Sands has higher revenue and earnings than Lucky Strike Entertainment. Lucky Strike Entertainment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Las Vegas Sands, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Las Vegas Sands beats Lucky Strike Entertainment on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lucky Strike Entertainment

Lucky Strike Entertainment Corp. engages in operating bowling centers. It offers entertainment concepts with lounge seating, arcades, food and beverage offerings, and hosting and overseeing professional and non-professional bowling tournaments and related broadcasting. The company was founded by Thomas F. Shannon in 1997 and is headquartered in Mechanicsville, VA.

About Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates integrated resorts in Macao and Singapore. It owns and operates The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip, and the Sands Macao in Macao, the People’s Republic of China; and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The company’s integrated resorts feature accommodations, gaming, entertainment and retail malls, convention and exhibition facilities, celebrity chef restaurants, and other amenities. Las Vegas Sands Corp. was founded in 1988 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.