Southwest Airlines (LUV) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility & risk, LUV or DAL?

Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate LUV or DAL?

Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus target price of $31.72, suggesting a potential upside of 5.97%. Delta Air Lines has a consensus target price of $78.22, suggesting a potential upside of 37.62%. Given Delta Air Lines' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Delta Air Lines is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southwest Airlines	7 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.83
Delta Air Lines	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.07

Is LUV or DAL more profitable?

Delta Air Lines has a net margin of 5.61% compared to Southwest Airlines' net margin of 1.69%. Delta Air Lines' return on equity of 30.41% beat Southwest Airlines' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southwest Airlines	1.69%	5.77%	1.70%
Delta Air Lines	5.61%	30.41%	5.30%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LUV or DAL?

Delta Air Lines received 112 more outperform votes than Southwest Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 76.67% of users gave Delta Air Lines an outperform vote while only 68.88% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southwest Airlines	Outperform Votes 1140 68.88%	Underperform Votes 515 31.12%
Delta Air Lines	Outperform Votes 1252 76.67%	Underperform Votes 381 23.33%

Is LUV or DAL a better dividend stock?

Southwest Airlines pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Delta Air Lines pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Southwest Airlines pays out 100.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Delta Air Lines pays out 11.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Which has better valuation and earnings, LUV or DAL?

Delta Air Lines has higher revenue and earnings than Southwest Airlines. Delta Air Lines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Airlines, 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
Southwest Airlines	$27.48B	0.65	$465M	$0.72	41.58
Delta Air Lines	$61.64B	0.60	$3.46B	$5.33	10.66

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of LUV or DAL?

80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor LUV or DAL?

In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 1 more articles in the media than Delta Air Lines. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 21 mentions for Delta Air Lines. Delta Air Lines' average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Southwest Airlines' score of 0.45 indicating that Delta Air Lines is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southwest Airlines	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Delta Air Lines	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Delta Air Lines beats Southwest Airlines on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.