Reviewing Viking (NYSE:VIK) and Ark Restaurants (NASDAQ:ARKR)

Ark Restaurants (NASDAQ:ARKR) and Viking (NYSE:VIK) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Ark Restaurants and Viking’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ark Restaurants	-2.04%	-10.61%	-2.58%
Viking	18.00%	149.40%	10.16%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ark Restaurants and Viking”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ark Restaurants	$165.75 million	0.12	-$11.47 million	($0.88)	-6.34
Viking	$6.50 billion	6.26	$1.15 billion	$2.69	33.93

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

32.0% of Ark Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of Viking shares are held by institutional investors. 37.5% of Ark Restaurants shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Ark Restaurants has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Viking has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ark Restaurants and Viking, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ark Restaurants	1	0	0	0	1.00
Viking	1	3	14	1	2.79

Viking has a consensus target price of $107.39, indicating a potential upside of 17.64%. Given Viking’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Viking is more favorable than Ark Restaurants.

Summary

Viking beats Ark Restaurants on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ark Restaurants

Ark Restaurants Corp., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates restaurants and bars in the United States. It operates restaurants in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nevada; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Florida; and Alabama, as well as fast food concepts and catering operations. The company was incorporated in 1983 and is based in New York, New York.

About Viking

Viking Holdings Ltd engages in the passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through River and Ocean segments. The company also operates as a tour entrepreneur for passengers and related activities in tourism. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 92 ships, including 81 river vessels comprising 58 Longships, 10 smaller classes based on the Longship design, 11 other river vessels, and 1 river vessel charter and the Viking Mississippi; 9 ocean ships; and 2 expedition ships. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.