Head to Head Comparison: Brightstar Lottery (NYSE:BRSL) vs. Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI)

Monarch Casino & Resort (NASDAQ:MCRI) and Brightstar Lottery (NYSE:BRSL) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.4% of Monarch Casino & Resort shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.3% of Brightstar Lottery shares are held by institutional investors. 26.3% of Monarch Casino & Resort shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Brightstar Lottery shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Monarch Casino & Resort and Brightstar Lottery, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Monarch Casino & Resort	0	4	2	1	2.57
Brightstar Lottery	1	4	4	0	2.33

Monarch Casino & Resort currently has a consensus target price of $123.40, indicating a potential upside of 13.47%. Brightstar Lottery has a consensus target price of $14.77, indicating a potential upside of 49.35%. Given Brightstar Lottery’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Brightstar Lottery is more favorable than Monarch Casino & Resort.

Risk and Volatility

Monarch Casino & Resort has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brightstar Lottery has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Monarch Casino & Resort and Brightstar Lottery’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Monarch Casino & Resort	20.35%	20.60%	15.79%
Brightstar Lottery	10.05%	10.47%	2.06%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Monarch Casino & Resort and Brightstar Lottery”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Monarch Casino & Resort	$545.12 million	3.52	$101.39 million	$6.31	17.23
Brightstar Lottery	$2.47 billion	0.75	$147.00 million	$1.30	7.61

Brightstar Lottery has higher revenue and earnings than Monarch Casino & Resort. Brightstar Lottery is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Monarch Casino & Resort, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Monarch Casino & Resort pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Brightstar Lottery pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.3%. Monarch Casino & Resort pays out 19.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brightstar Lottery pays out 70.8% 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.

Summary

Monarch Casino & Resort beats Brightstar Lottery on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Monarch Casino & Resort

Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. engages in the ownership and operation of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, a hotel and casino facility in Reno, Nevada, and the Monarch Black Hawk Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Reno, NV.

About Brightstar Lottery

International Game Technology PLC operates and provides gaming technology products and services in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It operates in three segments: Global Lottery, Global Gaming, and Digital & Betting. The company designs, sells, operates, and leases a suite of point-of-sale machines that reconciles lottery funds between the retailer and lottery authority; provides online lottery transaction processing systems; produces instant ticket games; and offers printing services, such as instant ticket marketing plans and graphic design, programming, packaging, shipping, and delivery services. It also designs, develops, assembles, and provides cabinets, games, systems, and software for the gaming market, as well as offers gaming management systems for casino management, customer relationship management, patron management, and server-based gaming. In addition, the company provides video lottery terminals (VLT), VLT central systems, and VLT games. Further, it offers digital gaming and betting; sports betting; and technology and management services. Additionally, the company provides digital gaming products and services, including blackjack, roulette, slot games, poker, bingo, and other casino card games; social casino content; and remote game server, as well as iGaming systems and digital platforms that offer player account management, advanced marketing and analytical, and payment system services. It processes commercial transactions, such as prepaid cellular telephone recharges, bill payments, e-vouchers and retail-based programs, electronic tax payments, prepaid card recharges, and stamp duty and money transfer services. The company was formerly known as GTECH S.p.A. and changed its name to International Game Technology PLC in April 2015. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. International Game Technology PLC is a subsidiary of De Agostini S.p.A.