Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. RCL scored 53.7, YUM scored 71.3 — YUM leads.
Compare another set
RCL
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Travel Services · Quality-Growth
53.7
$282.26 · $75.5B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
17.6
YUM leads
YUM
Yum! Brands, Inc.
Restaurants · Quality-Growth
71.3
$144.82 · $39.5B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
Fastest growthYUM+10.3%
Highest qualityYUM88 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueYUM-9%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
RCL
stronger →← stronger
YUM
75
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
88
50
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
69
42
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
60
YUM is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
RCL
YUM
-$416mF
FCF
$1.7bC+
+8.7%B
Rev
+10.3%B
2.25C
D/E
Negative equity
4.0xD
P/S
—
1.14B+
PEG
1.83C+
—
P/E
18.2xB
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
RCL
YUM
—
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
9% below
—
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~4%/yr
—
1-yr DCF upside
+2%
—
5-yr DCF upside
+9%
—
10-yr DCF upside
+21%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
RCL
Why this score
Raising its dividend
Durable high returns
Cyclical growth
YUM
Why this score
Raising its dividend
The companies
RCLRoyal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Travel Services · $282.26 · beta 1.82
Why now
Travel Services · market cap $75.5b. Down 21% from 52-week high of $356.39 — deep drawdown territory. 27 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $351.26 (implying +24% upside).
Moat
Net margin 24% sits well above the S&P median (~11%) — suggests structural pricing advantage or cost discipline competitors can't quickly close. ROE 43% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which. $75.5b market cap gives the company enough scale to absorb fixed costs that subscale competitors can't, without yet being so large that growth has to come from acquisition.
Risk
D/E 2.25 is elevated — limits strategic flexibility and raises refinancing exposure if rates stay higher for longer. Free cash flow is negative (-$416m) — capital raises or debt issuance likely required; dilution / leverage risk. Beta 1.82 implies above-market volatility — position-size to the drawdowns this name will produce in a market correction, not to its bull-case return.
YUMYum! Brands, Inc.
Restaurants · $144.82 · beta 0.55
Why now
Restaurants · market cap $39.5b. 15% off the 52-week high of $170.14. Revenue growing +10%, comfortably above the S&P median. 22 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $171.06 (implying +18% upside).
Moat
Net margin 25% sits well above the S&P median (~11%) — suggests structural pricing advantage or cost discipline competitors can't quickly close.
Risk
Mature compounder — the risk is paying up for quality at a moment when growth is decelerating. Watch for sequential revenue + margin trends; the inflection from "compounder" to "ex-compounder" is hard to spot until the multiple already started compressing.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where RCL and YUM diverge
On the headline score the gap is 17.6 points in favor of YUM. The widest single difference is Growth, where YUM leads by 18.8 points.
GrowthRCL 50.0 · YUM 68.8YUM +18.8
ValueRCL 41.6 · YUM 60.1YUM +18.5
QualityRCL 74.5 · YUM 87.7YUM +13.2
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is YUM or RCL the better stock?
YUM scores higher: YUM 71.3, RCL 53.7 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do YUM and RCL differ most?
The widest gap is growth, where YUM leads by 19 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. YUM leads all three pillars, so the gap is broad rather than a single-measure difference.
How are YUM and RCL scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.