Alaska Air Group (ALK) Competitors

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

Is ALK or LUV more profitable?

Alaska Air Group has a net margin of 2.99% compared to Southwest Airlines' net margin of -0.06%. Alaska Air Group's return on equity of 12.81% beat Southwest Airlines' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alaska Air Group	2.99%	12.81%	3.35%
Southwest Airlines	-0.06%	4.56%	1.33%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in ALK or LUV?

81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, ALK or LUV?

Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.15, meaning that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate ALK or LUV?

Alaska Air Group presently has a consensus target price of $57.31, indicating a potential upside of 9.32%. Southwest Airlines has a consensus target price of $30.78, indicating a potential downside of 3.71%. Given Alaska Air Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Alaska Air Group is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.

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
Southwest Airlines	3 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.06

Which has better earnings and valuation, ALK or LUV?

Southwest Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than Alaska Air Group. Southwest Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alaska Air 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	$10.75B	0.62	$235M	$2.48	21.14
Southwest Airlines	$26.09B	0.73	$465M	-$0.07	-456.71

Is ALK or LUV a better dividend stock?

Alaska Air Group pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Southwest Airlines pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Alaska Air Group pays out 60.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southwest Airlines pays out -1,028.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the media favor ALK or LUV?

In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 11 more articles in the media than Alaska Air Group. MarketBeat recorded 20 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 9 mentions for Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Southwest Airlines' score of 0.32 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	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Southwest Airlines	6 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ALK or LUV?

Southwest Airlines received 305 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 69.24% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alaska Air Group	Outperform Votes 832 69.80%	Underperform Votes 360 30.20%
Southwest Airlines	Outperform Votes 1137 69.24%	Underperform Votes 505 30.76%

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats Southwest Airlines on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.