United Airlines (UAL) Competitors

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, community ranking, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, DAL or UAL?

Delta Air Lines has higher revenue and earnings than United Airlines. United Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Delta Air Lines, 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
Delta Air Lines	$61.64B	0.51	$3.46B	$5.33	9.13
United Airlines	$57.06B	0.46	$3.15B	$9.43	8.43

Which has more risk & volatility, DAL or UAL?

Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Airlines has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor DAL or UAL?

In the previous week, United Airlines had 1 more articles in the media than Delta Air Lines. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for United Airlines and 41 mentions for Delta Air Lines. United Airlines' average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Delta Air Lines' score of 0.74 indicating that United Airlines is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Delta Air Lines	22 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
United Airlines	22 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of DAL or UAL?

69.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of United Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of United Airlines shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate DAL or UAL?

Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus target price of $76.29, indicating a potential upside of 56.80%. United Airlines has a consensus target price of $112.75, indicating a potential upside of 41.76%. Given Delta Air Lines' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Delta Air Lines is more favorable than United Airlines.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Delta Air Lines	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.07
United Airlines	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.06

Is DAL or UAL more profitable?

Delta Air Lines has a net margin of 5.61% compared to United Airlines' net margin of 5.52%. United Airlines' return on equity of 32.26% beat Delta Air Lines' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Delta Air Lines	5.61%	30.41%	5.30%
United Airlines	5.52%	32.26%	4.84%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DAL or UAL?

Delta Air Lines received 254 more outperform votes than United Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 76.71% of users gave Delta Air Lines an outperform vote while only 66.69% of users gave United Airlines an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Delta Air Lines	Outperform Votes 1255 76.71%	Underperform Votes 381 23.29%
United Airlines	Outperform Votes 1001 66.69%	Underperform Votes 500 33.31%

Summary

Delta Air Lines beats United Airlines on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.