Financial Analysis: United Airlines (UAL) vs. Its Peers

United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) is one of 78 publicly-traded companies in the “Passenger Airlines” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare United Airlines to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares United Airlines and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Airlines	5.46%	17.59%	3.53%
United Airlines Competitors	-18.03%	5.66%	1.09%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.7% of United Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.8% of shares of all “Passenger Airlines” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of United Airlines shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.5% of shares of all “Passenger Airlines” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Airlines and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Airlines	$59.07 billion	$3.35 billion	10.59
United Airlines Competitors	$14.69 billion	$637.69 million	20.26

United Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. United Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for United Airlines and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Airlines	1	1	16	0	2.83
United Airlines Competitors	1525	4060	6681	354	2.46

United Airlines presently has a consensus price target of $156.19, suggesting a potential upside of 34.92%. As a group, “Passenger Airlines” companies have a potential upside of 9.59%. Given United Airlines’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe United Airlines is more favorable than its competitors.

Risk & Volatility

United Airlines has a beta of 1.38, suggesting that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Airlines’ competitors have a beta of 18.45, suggesting that their average stock price is 1,745% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United Airlines beats its competitors on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About United Airlines

United Airlines Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. The company transports people and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. It also offers catering, ground handling, flight academy, and maintenance services for third parties. The company was formerly known as United Continental Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to United Airlines Holdings, Inc. in June 2019. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.