Air Lease (AL) and Its Peers Critical Review

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) is one of 14 publicly-traded companies in the “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Air Lease to related businesses based on the strength of its valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Air Lease and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air Lease	0	3	2	1	2.67
Air Lease Competitors	138	621	1061	67	2.56

Air Lease currently has a consensus target price of $66.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.11%. As a group, “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies have a potential upside of 23.04%. Given Air Lease’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Air Lease has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.6% of Air Lease shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of Air Lease shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.3% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies 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.

Dividends

Air Lease pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Air Lease pays out 9.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 20.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Lease has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Air Lease and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air Lease	35.72%	8.54%	2.13%
Air Lease Competitors	-14.27%	9.45%	0.84%

Volatility & Risk

Air Lease has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Lease’s competitors have a beta of 1.47, indicating that their average share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Air Lease and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air Lease	$3.02 billion	$1.09 billion	6.94
Air Lease Competitors	$3.86 billion	$560.27 million	-31.45

Air Lease’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Air Lease. Air Lease is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Air Lease beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Air Lease

Air Lease Corporation, an aircraft leasing company, engages in the purchase and leasing of commercial jet aircraft to airlines worldwide. It sells aircraft from its fleet to third parties, including other leasing companies, financial services companies, airlines, and other investors. The company provides fleet management services to investors and owners of aircraft portfolios. As of December 31, 2023, it owned a fleet of 463 aircraft, including 345 narrowbody aircraft and 118 widebody aircraft. Air Lease Corporation was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.