Choice Hotels vs Scholastic
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The short version
- Choice Hotels is the larger business, with $1.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.6B for Scholastic.
- Choice Hotels grew revenue faster (0.8%, against −2.7%).
- Choice Hotels kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (28.1% operating margin, against 1.0%).
- Choice Hotels turned more of its sales into free cash flow (10.2% FCF margin, against 0.2%).
- Choice Hotels earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (19.5%, against 1.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Scholastic’s earnings: a P/E of 27.1x against 15.3x for Choice Hotels.
| Latest fiscal year | CHH · FY25 | SCHL · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $4.9B | $728M |
| Revenue | $1.6B | $1.6B |
| Free cash flow | $164M | $2.5M |
| Net income | $370M | $56.7M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.8% | −2.7% |
| 5-year growth | 15.6% | 4.0% |
| Share count change | −3.1% | −12.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 56.4% |
| Operating margin | 28.1% | 1.0% |
| Net margin | 23.2% | 3.6% |
| FCF margin | 10.2% | 0.2% |
| Return on capital | 19.5% | 1.1% |
| Return on equity | — | 6.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.9B | −$45.0M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.7x | −0.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $192M | $286M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 15.3x | 27.1x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 7 |
Revenue
FY17
CHH $941M
SCHL $1.7B
FY18
CHH $1.0B
SCHL $1.6B
FY19
CHH $1.1B
SCHL $1.7B
FY20
CHH $774M
SCHL $1.5B
FY21
CHH $1.1B
SCHL $1.3B
FY22
CHH $1.4B
SCHL $1.6B
FY23
CHH $1.5B
SCHL $1.7B
FY24
CHH $1.6B
SCHL $1.6B
FY25
CHH $1.6B
SCHL $1.6B
FY26
CHH —
SCHL $1.6B
CHH
SCHL
Operating margin
FY17
CHH 30.8%
SCHL 5.1%
FY18
CHH 30.6%
SCHL 3.4%
FY19
CHH 28.6%
SCHL 1.5%
FY20
CHH 15.7%
SCHL −6.0%
FY21
CHH 40.1%
SCHL −1.8%
FY22
CHH 34.1%
SCHL 5.9%
FY23
CHH 24.3%
SCHL 6.2%
FY24
CHH 29.3%
SCHL 0.9%
FY25
CHH 28.1%
SCHL 1.0%
FY26
CHH —
SCHL 1.0%
CHH
SCHL
Free cash flow
FY17
CHH $234M
SCHL $75.7M
FY18
CHH $195M
SCHL $20.0M
FY19
CHH $213M
SCHL $21.4M
FY20
CHH $76.5M
SCHL −$60.6M
FY21
CHH $309M
SCHL $23.8M
FY22
CHH $301M
SCHL $184M
FY23
CHH $228M
SCHL $86.9M
FY24
CHH $213M
SCHL $96.2M
FY25
CHH $164M
SCHL $72.0M
FY26
CHH —
SCHL $2.5M
CHH
SCHL
Return on capital
FY17
CHH 57.3%
SCHL 6.2%
FY18
CHH 64.9%
SCHL 4.9%
FY19
CHH 39.3%
SCHL 1.6%
FY20
CHH 15.1%
SCHL −7.2%
FY21
CHH 40.3%
SCHL −2.0%
FY22
CHH 34.2%
SCHL 10.1%
FY23
CHH 19.9%
SCHL 8.8%
FY24
CHH 21.6%
SCHL 1.2%
FY25
CHH 19.5%
SCHL 1.3%
FY26
CHH —
SCHL 1.1%
CHH
SCHL
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.