Alaska Air Group (ALK) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer ALK or AAL?

Alaska Air Group currently has a consensus target price of $67.42, suggesting a potential upside of 31.16%. American Airlines Group has a consensus target price of $16.76, suggesting a potential upside of 51.99%. Given American Airlines Group's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American Airlines Group is more favorable than Alaska Air Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alaska Air Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
American Airlines Group	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63

Is ALK or AAL more profitable?

Alaska Air Group has a net margin of 2.33% compared to American Airlines Group's net margin of 1.05%. Alaska Air Group's return on equity of 12.62% beat American Airlines Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alaska Air Group	2.33%	12.62%	2.70%
American Airlines Group	1.05%	-24.55%	1.68%

Does the media prefer ALK or AAL?

In the previous week, American Airlines Group had 6 more articles in the media than Alaska Air Group. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for American Airlines Group and 22 mentions for Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat American Airlines Group's score of 0.59 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	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Airlines Group	9 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, ALK or AAL?

American Airlines Group has higher revenue and earnings than Alaska Air Group. American Airlines Group 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	$11.74B	0.54	$395M	$2.46	20.89
American Airlines Group	$54.21B	0.13	$846M	$0.80	13.79

Which has more volatility & risk, ALK or AAL?

Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Airlines Group has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of ALK or AAL?

81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.4% of American Airlines Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Alaska Air Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of American Airlines Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats American Airlines Group on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.