Southwest Airlines (LUV) Competitors $26.49 +0.03 (+0.11%) Closing price 03:59 PM EasternExtended Trading$26.37 -0.12 (-0.47%) As of 07:51 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock LUV vs. DAL, UAL, ALK, CPA, SKYW, JBLU, ALGT, RYAAY, AAL, and ULCCShould you be buying Southwest Airlines stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southwest Airlines include Delta Air Lines (DAL), United Airlines (UAL), Alaska Air Group (ALK), Copa (CPA), SkyWest (SKYW), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Allegiant Travel (ALGT), Ryanair (RYAAY), American Airlines Group (AAL), and Frontier Group (ULCC). These companies are all part of the "air transportation, scheduled" industry. Southwest Airlines vs. Delta Air Lines United Airlines Alaska Air Group Copa SkyWest JetBlue Airways Allegiant Travel Ryanair American Airlines Group Frontier Group Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends. Do analysts rate DAL or LUV? Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus price target of $61.06, indicating a potential upside of 46.64%. Southwest Airlines has a consensus price target of $30.54, indicating a potential upside of 15.31%. Given Delta Air Lines' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Delta Air Lines is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Delta Air Lines 0 Sell rating(s) 3 Hold rating(s) 10 Buy rating(s) 2 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.93Southwest Airlines 6 Sell rating(s) 9 Hold rating(s) 4 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 1.89 Which has preferable valuation & earnings, DAL or LUV? 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. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioDelta Air Lines$61.94B0.44$3.46B$5.647.38Southwest Airlines$27.58B0.55$465M$0.8531.16 Does the media prefer DAL or LUV? In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 20 more articles in the media than Delta Air Lines. MarketBeat recorded 65 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 45 mentions for Delta Air Lines. Delta Air Lines' average media sentiment score of 0.66 beat Southwest Airlines' score of 0.37 indicating that Delta Air Lines is being referred to more favorably in the media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Delta Air Lines 21 Very Positive mention(s) 5 Positive mention(s) 10 Neutral mention(s) 5 Negative mention(s) 3 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Southwest Airlines 15 Very Positive mention(s) 8 Positive mention(s) 21 Neutral mention(s) 13 Negative mention(s) 4 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral Is DAL or LUV a better dividend stock? Delta Air Lines pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Southwest Airlines pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Delta Air Lines pays out 10.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southwest Airlines pays out 84.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Which has more risk & volatility, DAL or LUV? Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Airlines has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Does the MarketBeat Community prefer DAL or LUV? Delta Air Lines received 120 more outperform votes than Southwest Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 76.56% of users gave Delta Air Lines an outperform vote while only 68.45% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote. CompanyUnderperformOutperformDelta Air LinesOutperform Votes126176.56% Underperform Votes38623.44% Southwest AirlinesOutperform Votes114168.45% Underperform Votes52631.55% Is DAL or LUV 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 Delta Air Lines5.61% 30.41% 5.30% Southwest Airlines 1.69%5.77%1.70% Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of DAL or LUV? 69.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. SummaryDelta Air Lines beats Southwest Airlines on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Southwest Airlines News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for LUV and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart LUV vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricSouthwest AirlinesAir transportation, scheduled IndustryTransportation SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$15.20B$2.18T$287.28B$18.91BDividend Yield2.91%3.60%4.18%4.14%P/E Ratio36.797.2613.1132.57Price / Sales0.55194.35218.7128.52Price / Cash8.147.5211.5417.53Price / Book1.521.591.804.45Net Income$465M$805.72M$515.10M$1.02B7 Day Performance7.19%0.71%3.48%3.51%1 Month Performance-23.59%-13.71%-4.07%-5.38%1 Year Performance-2.81%-18.47%-9.57%4.23% Southwest Airlines Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)LUVSouthwest Airlines4.454 of 5 stars$26.49+0.1%$30.54+15.3%-9.7%$15.20B$27.58B36.7966,700Earnings ReportAnalyst ForecastOptions VolumeAnalyst RevisionNews CoverageDALDelta Air Lines4.9276 of 5 stars$39.25-3.9%$61.06+55.6%-12.4%$25.63B$61.94B7.3695,000Dividend AnnouncementUALUnited Airlines4.7465 of 5 stars$64.79-2.3%$101.95+57.4%+31.1%$21.23B$57.74B6.8792,800Analyst ForecastPositive NewsALKAlaska Air Group4.8188 of 5 stars$43.65-3.4%$70.15+60.7%-6.2%$5.36B$11.74B14.3125,500Earnings ReportAnalyst ForecastNews CoverageCPACopa4.8449 of 5 stars$87.51-0.7%$153.29+75.2%-8.0%$3.68B$3.44B6.016,130Positive NewsSKYWSkyWest4.7687 of 5 stars$82.54-3.3%$120.67+46.2%+24.9%$3.35B$3.53B10.6213,121Earnings ReportNews CoverageGap DownJBLUJetBlue Airways3.7623 of 5 stars$3.57-2.7%$5.17+44.7%-33.3%$1.26B$9.28B-1.5320,000Upcoming EarningsALGTAllegiant Travel4.4824 of 5 stars$40.95-7.3%$67.00+63.6%-20.5%$750.94M$2.51B-3.065,320Analyst RevisionRYAAYRyanair4.2878 of 5 stars$44.70-2.1%$147.00+228.9%-66.5%$23.78B$13.82B13.7019,100Positive NewsAALAmerican Airlines Group4.897 of 5 stars$9.08-4.0%$16.95+86.6%-31.0%$5.97B$54.21B7.96129,700Earnings ReportAnalyst ForecastNews CoverageGap UpULCCFrontier Group3.7457 of 5 stars$3.05-3.8%$6.11+100.4%-49.2%$693.11M$3.78B8.476,470Upcoming EarningsNews Coverage Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Delta Air Lines Alternatives United Airlines Alternatives Alaska Air Group Alternatives Copa Alternatives SkyWest Alternatives JetBlue Airways Alternatives Allegiant Travel Alternatives Ryanair Alternatives American Airlines Group Alternatives Frontier Group Alternatives Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:LUV) was last updated on 4/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersElon Set to Shock the World by May 1st ?Tech legend Jeff Brown recently traveled to the industrial zone of South Memphis to investigate what he believ...Brownstone Research | SponsoredGet Your Bank Account “Fed Invasion” Ready with THESE 4 Simple StepsStarting as soon as a few months from now, the United States government will make a sweeping change to bank ac...Weiss Ratings | Sponsored$2 Trillion Disappears Because of Fed's Secretive New Move$2 trillion has disappeared from the US government's books. 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