Head-To-Head Survey: Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) and Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN)

Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN) and Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.7% of Six Flags Entertainment shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Planet Fitness shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Six Flags Entertainment shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Planet Fitness shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Six Flags Entertainment and Planet Fitness”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Six Flags Entertainment	$3.14 billion	0.44	-$231.16 million	($17.72)	-0.77
Planet Fitness	$1.18 billion	7.30	$172.04 million	$2.45	42.25

Planet Fitness has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Six Flags Entertainment. Six Flags Entertainment is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Planet Fitness, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Six Flags Entertainment has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Planet Fitness has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Six Flags Entertainment and Planet Fitness’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Six Flags Entertainment	-14.92%	-1.00%	-0.22%
Planet Fitness	15.97%	-126.58%	8.08%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Six Flags Entertainment and Planet Fitness, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Six Flags Entertainment	2	5	8	0	2.40
Planet Fitness	0	3	12	1	2.88

Six Flags Entertainment presently has a consensus target price of $29.07, suggesting a potential upside of 112.09%. Planet Fitness has a consensus target price of $117.23, suggesting a potential upside of 13.26%. Given Six Flags Entertainment’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Six Flags Entertainment is more favorable than Planet Fitness.

Summary

Planet Fitness beats Six Flags Entertainment on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Six Flags Entertainment

Cedar Fair, L.P. owns and operates amusement and water parks, as well as complementary resort facilities. Its amusement parks include Cedar Point located on Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo in Sandusky, Ohio; Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles, California; Canada's Wonderland near Toronto, Ontario; Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina; Kings Dominion situated near Richmond, Virginia; California's Great America located in Santa Clara, California; Dorney Park in Pennsylvania; Worlds of Fun located in Kansas City, Missouri; Valleyfair situated near Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Michigan's Adventure situated near Muskegon, Michigan; Schlitterbahn Waterpark & Resort New Braunfels in New Braunfels, Texas; and Schlitterbahn Waterpark Galveston in Galveston, Texas. The company also owns and operates the Castaway Bay Indoor Waterpark Resort, Hotel Breakers, Cedar Point's Express Hotel, and Sawmill Creek Resort. Cedar Fair, L.P. was founded in 1983 and is based in Sandusky, Ohio.

About Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates fitness centers under the Planet Fitness brand. The company operates through three segments: Franchise, Corporate-Owned Stores, and Equipment. The company is involved in franchising business in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico, and Australia. It engages in the sale of fitness equipment to franchisee-owned stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In addition, the company operates corporate-owned stores in the United States and Canada. Planet Fitness, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.