Contrasting Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) and CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA)

CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) and Expedia Group (NASDAQ:EXPE) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and profitability.

Risk & Volatility

CAVA Group has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its stock price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Expedia Group has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CAVA Group and Expedia Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CAVA Group	4.82%	8.28%	4.73%
Expedia Group	12.97%	87.32%	7.85%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for CAVA Group and Expedia Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CAVA Group	0	9	16	1	2.69
Expedia Group	0	22	18	0	2.45

CAVA Group currently has a consensus price target of $89.44, indicating a potential upside of 47.52%. Expedia Group has a consensus price target of $318.71, indicating a potential upside of 6.93%. Given CAVA Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe CAVA Group is more favorable than Expedia Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CAVA Group and Expedia Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CAVA Group	$1.18 billion	6.00	$63.74 million	$0.55	110.24
Expedia Group	$14.73 billion	2.43	$1.29 billion	$16.04	18.58

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.2% of CAVA Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.8% of Expedia Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.7% of CAVA Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Expedia Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Expedia Group beats CAVA Group on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CAVA Group

CAVA Group, Inc. owns and operates a chain of restaurants under the CAVA brand in the United States. The company also offers dips, spreads, and dressings through grocery stores. In addition, the company provides online and mobile ordering platforms. Cava Group, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc. operates as an online travel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through B2C, B2B, and trivago segments. Its B2C segment includes Brand Expedia, a full-service online travel brand offers various travel products and services; Hotels.com for lodging accommodations; Vrbo, an online marketplace for the alternative accommodations; Orbitz, Travelocity, Wotif Group, ebookers, CheapTickets, Hotwire.com and CarRentals.com. The company's B2B segment provides various travel and non-travel companies including airlines, offline travel agents, online retailers, corporate travel management, and financial institutions who leverage its travel technology and tap into its diverse supply to augment their offerings and market Expedia Group rates and availabilities to its travelers. Its trivago segment, a hotel metasearch website, which send referrals to online travel companies and travel service providers from hotel metasearch websites. In addition, the company provides brand advertising through online and offline channels, loyalty programs, mobile apps, and search engine marketing, as well as metasearch, social media, direct and personalized traveler communications on its websites, and through direct e-mail communication with its travelers. The company was formerly known as Expedia, Inc. and changed its name to Expedia Group, Inc. in March 2018. Expedia Group, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.