Choice Hotels vs Scholastic
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KIRA’s take AI analyst
I put Choice Hotels and Scholastic side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:
- 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.
Who comes out ahead
Of the 9 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.
Choice Hotels
CHH
6/9
Revenue growth5-year growthOperating marginNet marginFCF marginReturn on capital
Scholastic
SCHL
3/9
Piotroski F-scoreNet debt / EBITDAShare count change
Side by side
Best in the row
| 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 |
Ten years
Revenue
Operating margin
Free cash flow
Return on capital
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.