HTHT vs. RCL: H World vs. Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Comparison

Company Profile

H World (HTHT) and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) are both classified in the Hotels, Resorts & Cruise Lines sub-industry within the broader Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure industry, placing them in the closest GICS peer bucket.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) trades as ordinary local shares, while H World (HTHT) trades as an ADR — compare with FX exposure, depositary-program fees, and dividend-withholding-tax differences in mind.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) has an aggressive beta of 1.82, indicating higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, while H World (HTHT) is defensive at 0.08 and tends to be less market-sensitive — they sit on opposite ends of the beta spectrum.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Both H World (HTHT) at 38.13% and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 41.29% sit in the top peer quartile for ROE, suggesting each generates more profit from shareholders’ equity than typical industry peers.

For every dollar of sales, both H World (HTHT) at 18.93% and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 23.79% retain more as net profit than most peers, landing in the top net margin quartile of their industries.

Both H World (HTHT) at 31.15% and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 33.61% convert sales into operating profit at a top-quartile rate, pointing to tighter cost discipline before financing and tax.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Both H World (HTHT) at 5.93% and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 8.79% land near their industries' usual revenue growth ranges, so top-line momentum looks broadly in line with peers on both sides.

H World (HTHT) at 66.67% sits in the top EPS growth quartile, while Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 41.91% is closer to the peer norm — faster per-share earnings growth for HTHT.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

H World (HTHT) at 1.21 keeps current ratio within its industry’s typical mid-range, while Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 0.22 runs in the tighter-liquidity quartile — a thinner cushion against current liabilities for RCL.

Both H World (HTHT) at 2.40 and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 1.94 fund their balance sheets with roughly industry-typical debt-to-equity mixes.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 1.70% pays an industry-typical yield; H World (HTHT) at 29.60% is above its entire peer range — the higher number, but one that calls for a look at payout sustainability before treating it as an advantage.

H World (HTHT) reports payout ratio above 100% at 159.42%, meaning dividends exceeded current-period earnings and sustainability needs extra context. Meanwhile Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) reports 32.54%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 19.36 is near its industry’s usual P/E ratio, while H World (HTHT) at 38.09 sits in the richer quartile — HTHT needs stronger growth or earnings quality to justify the premium.

H World (HTHT) at 0.61 looks cheap on sales in the lower P/S ratio quartile, while Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 4.57 looks rich in the upper quartile — a clear gap in price per dollar of revenue.

Both H World (HTHT) at 7.64 and Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCL) at 7.47 carry a premium to book value versus peers, sitting in the upper P/B ratio quartile of their industries.

Valuation Metrics