DAL vs. LUV, UAL, RYAAY, AAL, WAB, JBHT, EXPD, SAIA, XPO, and UHAL
Should you be buying Delta Air Lines stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Delta Air Lines include Southwest Airlines (LUV), United Airlines (UAL), Ryanair (RYAAY), American Airlines Group (AAL), Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies (WAB), J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), Saia (SAIA), XPO (XPO), and U-Haul (UHAL). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.
Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) are both large-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, risk and dividends.
Delta Air Lines has a net margin of 7.94% compared to Southwest Airlines' net margin of 1.91%. Delta Air Lines' return on equity of 46.35% beat Southwest Airlines' return on equity.
Delta Air Lines received 89 more outperform votes than Southwest Airlines when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 76.26% of users gave Delta Air Lines an outperform vote while only 70.40% of users gave Southwest Airlines an outperform vote.
71.3% of Delta Air Lines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.2% of Southwest Airlines shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Southwest Airlines shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Delta Air Lines pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Southwest Airlines pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Delta Air Lines pays out 5.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southwest Airlines pays out 96.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus price target of $55.54, suggesting a potential upside of 28.06%. Southwest Airlines has a consensus price target of $32.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.49%. Given Delta Air Lines' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Delta Air Lines is more favorable than Southwest Airlines.
Delta Air Lines has higher revenue and earnings than Southwest Airlines. Delta Air Lines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Airlines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 18 more articles in the media than Delta Air Lines. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 38 mentions for Delta Air Lines. Delta Air Lines' average media sentiment score of 0.43 beat Southwest Airlines' score of 0.05 indicating that Delta Air Lines is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Delta Air Lines beats Southwest Airlines on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Delta Air Lines News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for DAL and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding DAL and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis 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.
Skip Chart
Delta Air Lines Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools