JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) and Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air Group's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| JetBlue Airways | -18.95% | -23.07% | -7.57% |
| Alaska Air Group | -13.96% | -19.39% | -5.51% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
66.7% of JetBlue Airways shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 73.1% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of JetBlue Airways shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air Group, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| JetBlue Airways | 2 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 2.53 |
| Alaska Air Group | 0 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 3.00 |
JetBlue Airways presently has a consensus price target of $20.2857, suggesting a potential upside of 2.20%. Alaska Air Group has a consensus price target of $67.7692, suggesting a potential upside of 1.21%. Given JetBlue Airways' higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe JetBlue Airways is more favorable than Alaska Air Group.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air Group's top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| JetBlue Airways | $8.09 billion | 0.78 | $569 million | $1.90 | 10.45 |
| Alaska Air Group | $8.78 billion | 0.95 | $769 million | $6.42 | 10.43 |
Alaska Air Group has higher revenue and earnings than JetBlue Airways. Alaska Air Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than JetBlue Airways, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility & Risk
JetBlue Airways has a beta of 1.57, suggesting that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.81, suggesting that its stock price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Alaska Air Group beats JetBlue Airways on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
