American Airlines Group (AAL) Competitors

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

Which has more risk and volatility, ALK or AAL?

Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its stock price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Airlines Group has a beta of 1.57, suggesting that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer ALK or AAL?

In the previous week, Alaska Air Group had 30 more articles in the media than American Airlines Group. MarketBeat recorded 52 mentions for Alaska Air Group and 22 mentions for American Airlines Group. American Airlines Group's average media sentiment score of 0.35 beat Alaska Air Group's score of 0.35 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	17 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
American Airlines Group	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is ALK or AAL more profitable?

Alaska Air Group has a net margin of 2.25% compared to Alaska Air Group's net margin of 1.56%. American Airlines Group's return on equity of 14.72% beat Alaska Air Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alaska Air Group	2.25%	14.72%	3.96%
American Airlines Group	1.56%	-36.28%	2.83%

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

81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.4% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate ALK or AAL?

Alaska Air Group presently has a consensus price target of $57.85, indicating a potential upside of 28.77%. American Airlines Group has a consensus price target of $17.53, indicating a potential upside of 24.17%. Given American Airlines Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Alaska Air Group is more favorable than American Airlines Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alaska Air Group	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
American Airlines Group	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, 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	$10.43B	0.54	$235M	$1.81	24.87
American Airlines Group	$52.79B	0.18	$822M	$1.10	12.83

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ALK or AAL?

American Airlines Group received 74 more outperform votes than Alaska Air Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 69.64% of users gave Alaska Air Group an outperform vote while only 66.15% of users gave American Airlines Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Alaska Air Group	Outperform Votes 819 69.64%	Underperform Votes 357 30.36%
American Airlines Group	Outperform Votes 893 66.15%	Underperform Votes 457 33.85%

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats American Airlines Group on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.