Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) versus Travel + Leisure (NYSE:TNL) Critical Contrast

Travel + Leisure (NYSE:TNL) and Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Travel + Leisure and Madison Square Garden’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Travel + Leisure	10.36%	-49.06%	6.24%
Madison Square Garden	-1.55%	N/A	-1.10%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.5% of Travel + Leisure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.9% of Madison Square Garden shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Travel + Leisure shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.1% of Madison Square Garden shares are held by company 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Travel + Leisure and Madison Square Garden”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Travel + Leisure	$3.86 billion	1.18	$411.00 million	$6.08	11.64
Madison Square Garden	$1.04 billion	6.75	-$22.44 million	($0.69)	-422.48

Travel + Leisure has higher revenue and earnings than Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Travel + Leisure, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Travel + Leisure and Madison Square Garden, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Travel + Leisure	0	2	7	1	2.90
Madison Square Garden	1	4	5	0	2.40

Travel + Leisure currently has a consensus price target of $75.25, suggesting a potential upside of 6.36%. Madison Square Garden has a consensus price target of $280.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.95%. Given Travel + Leisure’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Travel + Leisure is more favorable than Madison Square Garden.

Risk and Volatility

Travel + Leisure has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Madison Square Garden has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Travel + Leisure beats Madison Square Garden on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Co., together with its subsidiaries, provides hospitality services and travel products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Vacation Ownership; and Travel and Membership. The Vacation Ownership segment develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests (VOIs) to individual consumers, as well as provides consumer financing in connection with the sale of VOIs; and property management services at resorts. The Travel and Membership segment operates various travel businesses, including three vacation exchange brands, travel technology platforms, travel memberships, and direct-to-consumer rentals. This segment also offers private-label travel booking technology solutions. The company was formerly known as Wyndham Destinations, Inc. and changed its name to Travel + Leisure Co. in February 2021. Travel + Leisure Co. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.

About Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. operates as a professional sports company in the United States. The company owns and operates a portfolio of assets that consists of the New York Knickerbockers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. Its other professional franchises include development league teams, the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League and the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. The company also owns Knicks Gaming, an esports franchise that competes in the NBA 2K League. In addition, it operates professional sports team performance centers, the Madison Square Garden Training Center in Greenburgh. The company was formerly known as The Madison Square Garden Company. Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in New York, New York.