LUV vs. UAL, ALK, DAL, AAL, RYAAY, EXPD, JBHT, ZTO, XPO, and UHAL
Should you be buying Southwest Airlines stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southwest Airlines include United Airlines (UAL), Alaska Air Group (ALK), Delta Air Lines (DAL), American Airlines Group (AAL), Ryanair (RYAAY), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), ZTO Express (Cayman) (ZTO), XPO (XPO), and U-Haul (UHAL). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.
Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, community ranking and profitability.
Southwest Airlines received 168 more outperform votes than United Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.11% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote while only 66.01% of users gave United Airlines an outperform vote.
Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Airlines has a beta of 1.55, indicating that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.
United Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than Southwest Airlines. United Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Airlines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
United Airlines has a net margin of 4.90% compared to Southwest Airlines' net margin of 1.59%. United Airlines' return on equity of 39.85% beat Southwest Airlines' return on equity.
Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus price target of $30.59, suggesting a potential upside of 18.61%. United Airlines has a consensus price target of $66.53, suggesting a potential upside of 31.49%. Given United Airlines' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe United Airlines is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.
In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 80 more articles in the media than United Airlines. MarketBeat recorded 95 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 15 mentions for United Airlines. United Airlines' average media sentiment score of 0.77 beat Southwest Airlines' score of -0.08 indicating that United Airlines is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of United Airlines shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Southwest Airlines shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of United Airlines shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
United Airlines beats Southwest Airlines on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding LUV and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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.
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