United Airlines (UAL) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate UAL or DAL?

United Airlines currently has a consensus price target of $102.33, indicating a potential upside of 34.07%. Delta Air Lines has a consensus price target of $62.08, indicating a potential upside of 23.89%. Given United Airlines' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe United Airlines is more favorable than Delta Air Lines.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Airlines	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.06
Delta Air Lines	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has higher valuation and earnings, UAL or DAL?

Delta Air Lines has higher revenue and earnings than United Airlines. United Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Delta Air Lines, 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
United Airlines	$57.74B	0.43	$3.15B	$10.97	6.96
Delta Air Lines	$61.94B	0.53	$3.46B	$5.64	8.88

Which has more volatility and risk, UAL or DAL?

United Airlines has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor UAL or DAL?

In the previous week, United Airlines had 7 more articles in the media than Delta Air Lines. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for United Airlines and 29 mentions for Delta Air Lines. United Airlines' average media sentiment score of 1.12 beat Delta Air Lines' score of 1.06 indicating that United Airlines is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
United Airlines	22 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Delta Air Lines	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in UAL or DAL?

69.7% of United Airlines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of United Airlines shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is UAL or DAL more profitable?

Delta Air Lines has a net margin of 5.61% compared to United Airlines' net margin of 5.52%. United Airlines' return on equity of 32.26% beat Delta Air Lines' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Airlines	5.52%	32.26%	4.84%
Delta Air Lines	5.61%	30.41%	5.30%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer UAL or DAL?

Delta Air Lines received 251 more outperform votes than United Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 76.55% of users gave Delta Air Lines an outperform vote while only 66.75% of users gave United Airlines an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
United Airlines	Outperform Votes 1012 66.75%	Underperform Votes 504 33.25%
Delta Air Lines	Outperform Votes 1263 76.55%	Underperform Votes 387 23.45%

Summary

Delta Air Lines beats United Airlines on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.