Head to Head Review: NextTrip (NASDAQ:NTRP) vs. Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI)

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

Risk & Volatility

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

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%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.8% of NextTrip shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.0% of NextTrip shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Darden Restaurants	$13.21 billion	1.74	$1.21 billion	$10.23	19.88
NextTrip	$5.03 million	5.67	-$15.91 million	($1.41)	-1.34

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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Darden Restaurants and NextTrip, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	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 presently has a consensus price target of $232.48, suggesting a potential upside of 14.32%. NextTrip has a consensus price target of $7.75, suggesting a potential upside of 310.05%. Given NextTrip’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NextTrip is more favorable than Darden Restaurants.

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.