LUV vs. UAL, ALK, DAL, AAL, RYAAY, EXPD, JBHT, UHAL, ZTO, and XPO
Should you be buying Southwest Airlines stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southwest Airlines include United Airlines (UAL), Alaska Air Group (ALK), Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines Group (AAL), Ryanair (RYAAY), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), U-Haul (UHAL), ZTO Express (Cayman) (ZTO), and XPO (XPO). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.
United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, profitability and media sentiment.
Southwest Airlines received 166 more outperform votes than United Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.02% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote while only 66.05% of users gave United Airlines an outperform vote.
United Airlines has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.
United Airlines has a net margin of 4.90% compared to United Airlines' net margin of 1.59%. Southwest Airlines' return on equity of 39.85% beat United Airlines' return on equity.
United Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than Southwest Airlines. United Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Airlines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
69.7% of United Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of United Airlines shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, United Airlines had 18 more articles in the media than Southwest Airlines. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for United Airlines and 25 mentions for Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines' average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat United Airlines' score of 0.37 indicating that United Airlines is being referred to more favorably in the media.
United Airlines currently has a consensus target price of $67.25, indicating a potential upside of 22.33%. Southwest Airlines has a consensus target price of $30.10, indicating a potential upside of 8.04%. Given Southwest Airlines' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe United Airlines is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.
Summary
United Airlines beats Southwest Airlines on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding LUV and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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