Critical Survey: Viking (VIK) and Its Competitors

Viking (NYSE:VIK) is one of 30 publicly-traded companies in the “Water transportation” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Viking to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Viking and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viking	-10.97%	N/A	-1.53%
Viking Competitors	74.46%	15.43%	6.58%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Viking and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viking	$5.33 billion	-$1.86 billion	154.25
Viking Competitors	$4.40 billion	$276.48 million	45.37

Viking has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. Viking is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.8% of Viking shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 63.4% of shares of all “Water transportation” companies are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of shares of all “Water transportation” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Viking and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viking	0	4	11	0	2.73
Viking Competitors	395	1463	2349	104	2.50

Viking presently has a consensus price target of $46.33, indicating a potential upside of 15.53%. As a group, “Water transportation” companies have a potential upside of 40.15%. Given Viking’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Viking has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

Viking rivals beat Viking on 7 of the 12 factors compared.

About Viking

Viking Holdings Ltd engages in the passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through River and Ocean segments. The company also operates as a tour entrepreneur for passengers and related activities in tourism. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 92 ships, including 81 river vessels comprising 58 Longships, 10 smaller classes based on the Longship design, 11 other river vessels, and 1 river vessel charter and the Viking Mississippi; 9 ocean ships; and 2 expedition ships. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.