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Southwest Airlines (LUV) Competitors

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$29.56 -0.16 (-0.52%)
Closing price 08/7/2025 03:59 PM Eastern
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$29.75 +0.20 (+0.66%)
As of 08:32 AM Eastern
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LUV vs. AAL, ALGT, CHRW, JBLU, LSTR, SKYW, UAL, ALK, CPA, and DAL

Should you be buying Southwest Airlines stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southwest Airlines include American Airlines Group (AAL), Allegiant Travel (ALGT), C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Landstar System (LSTR), SkyWest (SKYW), United Airlines (UAL), Alaska Air Group (ALK), Copa (CPA), and Delta Air Lines (DAL). These companies are all part of the "transportation" sector.

Southwest Airlines vs. Its Competitors

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership and earnings.

Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Airlines Group has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Southwest Airlines has a net margin of 1.43% compared to American Airlines Group's net margin of 1.05%. Southwest Airlines' return on equity of 6.27% beat American Airlines Group's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Southwest Airlines1.43% 6.27% 1.83%
American Airlines Group 1.05%-24.55%1.68%

American Airlines Group has higher revenue and earnings than Southwest Airlines. American Airlines 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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Southwest Airlines$27.48B0.56$465M$0.6644.78
American Airlines Group$54.21B0.14$846M$0.8014.66

80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.4% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of American Airlines Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Southwest Airlines currently has a consensus price target of $33.06, suggesting a potential upside of 11.87%. American Airlines Group has a consensus price target of $16.76, suggesting a potential upside of 42.92%. Given American Airlines Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe American Airlines 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
American Airlines Group
1 Sell rating(s)
7 Hold rating(s)
9 Buy rating(s)
2 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.63

In the previous week, Southwest Airlines had 12 more articles in the media than American Airlines Group. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Southwest Airlines and 15 mentions for American Airlines Group. American Airlines Group's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Southwest Airlines' score of 0.91 indicating that American Airlines Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Southwest Airlines
16 Very Positive mention(s)
2 Positive mention(s)
5 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
1 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
American Airlines Group
11 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
1 Neutral mention(s)
1 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Summary

American Airlines Group beats Southwest Airlines on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding LUV and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This 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.
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LUV vs. The Competition

MetricSouthwest AirlinesTRANS IndustryTransportation SectorNYSE Exchange
Market Cap$15.60B$7.79B$7.23B$20.71B
Dividend Yield2.42%6,150.63%706.08%3.67%
P/E Ratio44.789.8913.4228.65
Price / Sales0.562,869.40532.5069.00
Price / Cash7.915.017.7923.59
Price / Book1.942.662.124.32
Net Income$465M$587.12M$571.16M$995.66M
7 Day Performance-0.86%4.79%2.74%1.91%
1 Month Performance-13.00%11.15%0.24%-0.54%
1 Year Performance17.19%56.32%3.85%14.76%

Southwest Airlines Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
LUV
Southwest Airlines
4.7006 of 5 stars
$29.56
-0.5%
$33.06
+11.9%
+21.5%$15.60B$27.48B44.7872,450Analyst Forecast
Insider Trade
Analyst Revision
AAL
American Airlines Group
4.1832 of 5 stars
$11.61
+0.9%
$16.76
+44.5%
+26.7%$7.65B$54.21B14.51133,300Positive News
ALGT
Allegiant Travel
4.6579 of 5 stars
$50.98
+0.7%
$65.11
+27.7%
+26.5%$928.20M$2.51B-4.405,991Earnings Report
Analyst Forecast
Analyst Revision
CHRW
C.H. Robinson Worldwide
4.2818 of 5 stars
$101.75
-0.9%
$114.29
+12.3%
+20.5%$12.08B$17.72B24.3313,781
JBLU
JetBlue Airways
3.0452 of 5 stars
$4.38
-0.1%
$5.16
+17.9%
-26.4%$1.55B$9.28B-5.3422,793News Coverage
Positive News
LSTR
Landstar System
4.5334 of 5 stars
$141.20
-1.0%
$151.31
+7.2%
-31.5%$4.93B$4.82B27.951,441
SKYW
SkyWest
4.2212 of 5 stars
$117.54
+4.7%
$126.75
+7.8%
+58.7%$4.73B$3.53B11.8914,610
UAL
United Airlines
4.7124 of 5 stars
$92.66
+1.7%
$111.43
+20.3%
+127.0%$29.98B$57.06B9.28107,300Trending News
ALK
Alaska Air Group
4.8486 of 5 stars
$54.22
+4.0%
$67.42
+24.3%
+59.0%$6.65B$13.45B22.0133,941Positive News
Analyst Forecast
CPA
Copa
4.6812 of 5 stars
$109.17
-0.9%
$152.00
+39.2%
+40.5%$4.49B$3.44B7.447,909Trending News
Earnings Report
DAL
Delta Air Lines
4.7122 of 5 stars
$55.66
+1.5%
$66.21
+19.0%
+43.6%$36.30B$61.64B8.06100,000

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This page (NYSE:LUV) was last updated on 8/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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