American Airlines Group (AAL) Competitors

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, earnings and risk.

Is ALK or AAL more profitable?

Alaska Air Group has a net margin of 2.99% compared to American Airlines Group's net margin of 0.51%. Alaska Air Group's return on equity of 12.81% beat American Airlines Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alaska Air Group	2.99%	12.81%	3.35%
American Airlines Group	0.51%	-18.62%	1.48%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in ALK or AAL?

81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.4% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer ALK or AAL?

In the previous week, American Airlines Group had 9 more articles in the media than Alaska Air Group. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for American Airlines Group and 9 mentions for Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group's average media sentiment score of 0.88 beat American Airlines Group's score of 0.79 indicating that Alaska Air Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Alaska Air Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Airlines Group	4 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ALK or AAL?

American Airlines Group received 68 more outperform votes than Alaska Air Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 69.80% of users gave Alaska Air Group an outperform vote while only 65.17% of users gave American Airlines Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alaska Air Group	Outperform Votes 832 69.80%	Underperform Votes 360 30.20%
American Airlines Group	Outperform Votes 900 65.17%	Underperform Votes 481 34.83%

Do analysts rate ALK or AAL?

Alaska Air Group presently has a consensus target price of $57.31, suggesting a potential upside of 7.88%. American Airlines Group has a consensus target price of $13.96, suggesting a potential downside of 3.44%. Given Alaska Air Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Alaska Air Group is more favorable than American Airlines Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alaska Air Group	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
American Airlines Group	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, ALK or AAL?

American Airlines Group has higher revenue and earnings than Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Airlines Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alaska Air Group	$10.43B	0.65	$235M	$2.48	21.42
American Airlines Group	$53.61B	0.18	$822M	$0.33	43.82

Which has more volatility & risk, ALK or AAL?

Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Airlines Group has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats American Airlines Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.