Comparing Viking (NYSE:VIK) & Ark Restaurants (NASDAQ:ARKR)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Viking and Ark Restaurants, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viking	1	2	16	0	2.79
Ark Restaurants	1	0	0	0	1.00

Viking presently has a consensus price target of $107.33, indicating a potential upside of 25.60%. Given Viking’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Viking is more favorable than Ark Restaurants.

Risk and Volatility

Viking has a beta of 1.41, suggesting that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ark Restaurants has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viking	19.33%	117.98%	10.80%
Ark Restaurants	-2.04%	-10.61%	-2.58%

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viking	$6.50 billion	5.86	$1.15 billion	$3.01	28.39
Ark Restaurants	$155.54 million	0.10	-$11.47 million	($0.88)	-5.11

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 and Institutional Ownership

98.8% of Viking shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.0% of Ark Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.5% of Ark Restaurants shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

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

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.

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.