Apple Hospitality REIT (APLE) Competitors

Houlihan Lokey (NYSE:HLI) and Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, risk, community ranking and dividends.

Which has more risk & volatility, HLI or APLE?

Houlihan Lokey has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Apple Hospitality REIT has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend HLI or APLE?

Houlihan Lokey presently has a consensus target price of $183.40, indicating a potential upside of 18.64%. Apple Hospitality REIT has a consensus target price of $16.80, indicating a potential upside of 46.28%. Given Apple Hospitality REIT's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Apple Hospitality REIT is more favorable than Houlihan Lokey.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Houlihan Lokey	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Apple Hospitality REIT	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Which has better earnings and valuation, HLI or APLE?

Houlihan Lokey has higher revenue and earnings than Apple Hospitality REIT. Apple Hospitality REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Houlihan Lokey, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Houlihan Lokey	$2.24B	4.83	$280.30M	$5.24	29.50
Apple Hospitality REIT	$1.43B	1.92	$177.49M	$0.88	13.05

Does the media refer more to HLI or APLE?

In the previous week, Houlihan Lokey had 18 more articles in the media than Apple Hospitality REIT. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Houlihan Lokey and 10 mentions for Apple Hospitality REIT. Apple Hospitality REIT's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Houlihan Lokey's score of 0.63 indicating that Apple Hospitality REIT is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Houlihan Lokey	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Apple Hospitality REIT	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HLI or APLE?

Apple Hospitality REIT received 36 more outperform votes than Houlihan Lokey when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 60.53% of users gave Houlihan Lokey an outperform vote while only 56.88% of users gave Apple Hospitality REIT an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Houlihan Lokey	Outperform Votes 299 60.53%	Underperform Votes 195 39.47%
Apple Hospitality REIT	Outperform Votes 335 56.88%	Underperform Votes 254 43.12%

Is HLI or APLE a better dividend stock?

Houlihan Lokey pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Apple Hospitality REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.4%. Houlihan Lokey pays out 43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Apple Hospitality REIT pays out 109.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is HLI or APLE more profitable?

Houlihan Lokey has a net margin of 16.00% compared to Apple Hospitality REIT's net margin of 14.53%. Houlihan Lokey's return on equity of 20.04% beat Apple Hospitality REIT's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Houlihan Lokey	16.00%	20.04%	12.06%
Apple Hospitality REIT	14.53%	6.17%	4.09%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in HLI or APLE?

78.1% of Houlihan Lokey shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Apple Hospitality REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 23.7% of Houlihan Lokey shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.8% of Apple Hospitality REIT shares are held 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.

Summary

Houlihan Lokey beats Apple Hospitality REIT on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.