Contrasting Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) and NextTrip (NASDAQ:NTRP)

Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) and NextTrip (NASDAQ:NTRP) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Darden Restaurants and NextTrip, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Darden Restaurants	0	9	17	0	2.65
NextTrip	1	1	1	0	2.00

Darden Restaurants currently has a consensus price target of $232.48, indicating a potential upside of 15.89%. NextTrip has a consensus price target of $7.75, indicating a potential upside of 305.76%. Given NextTrip’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NextTrip is more favorable than Darden Restaurants.

Profitability

This table compares Darden Restaurants and NextTrip’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Darden Restaurants	8.85%	58.64%	9.56%
NextTrip	-289.92%	-246.48%	-105.09%

Volatility and Risk

Darden Restaurants has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextTrip has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.8% of NextTrip shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Darden Restaurants shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.0% of NextTrip shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Darden Restaurants and NextTrip”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Darden Restaurants	$13.37 billion	1.70	$1.21 billion	$10.23	19.61
NextTrip	$3.72 million	7.75	-$15.91 million	($1.41)	-1.35

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

Summary

Darden Restaurants beats NextTrip on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names. Darden Restaurants, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Orlando, Florida.

About NextTrip

NextTrip, Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of travel technology solutions in the United States. The company offers NXT2.0, a booking engine technology platform, which provides travel distributors access to an inventory. It is also involved in the provision of online leisure travel agency services for booking hotels, flights, and curated vacations. The company was formerly known as Sigma Additive Solutions, Inc. and changed its name to NextTrip, Inc. in March 2024. NextTrip, Inc. is based in Sunrise, Florida.