Alaska Air Group (ALK) Competitors

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) are both transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

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

80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Alaska Air Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor LUV or ALK?

In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 27 more articles in the media than Alaska Air Group. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 29 mentions for Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group's average media sentiment score of 0.49 beat Southwest Airlines' score of 0.31 indicating that Alaska Air Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southwest Airlines	18 Very Positive mention(s)	7 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Alaska Air Group	11 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, LUV or ALK?

Southwest Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than Alaska Air Group. Alaska Air Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Airlines, 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
Southwest Airlines	$27.58B	0.59	$465M	$0.85	33.59
Alaska Air Group	$12.64B	0.43	$395M	$2.75	16.13

Which has more risk and volatility, LUV or ALK?

Southwest Airlines has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is LUV or ALK a better dividend stock?

Southwest Airlines pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Alaska Air Group pays an annual dividend of $1.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. 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. Alaska Air Group pays out 54.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Alaska Air Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is LUV or ALK more profitable?

Alaska Air Group has a net margin of 3.37% compared to Southwest Airlines' net margin of 1.69%. Alaska Air Group's return on equity of 14.66% beat Southwest Airlines' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southwest Airlines	1.69%	5.77%	1.70%
Alaska Air Group	3.37%	14.66%	3.60%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LUV or ALK?

Southwest Airlines received 291 more outperform votes than Alaska Air Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 70.21% of users gave Alaska Air Group an outperform vote while only 68.47% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southwest Airlines	Outperform Votes 1142 68.47%	Underperform Votes 526 31.53%
Alaska Air Group	Outperform Votes 851 70.21%	Underperform Votes 361 29.79%

Do analysts rate LUV or ALK?

Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus price target of $30.43, suggesting a potential upside of 6.58%. Alaska Air Group has a consensus price target of $65.92, suggesting a potential upside of 48.65%. Given Alaska Air Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alaska Air Group is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southwest Airlines	6 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.89
Alaska Air Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats Southwest Airlines on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.