Head to Head Analysis: Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) vs. JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU)

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JetBlue Airways has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its stock price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Delta Air Lines	1	1	22	0	2.88
JetBlue Airways	4	9	0	0	1.69

Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus price target of $99.65, indicating a potential upside of 12.71%. JetBlue Airways has a consensus price target of $4.89, indicating a potential upside of 35.66%. Given JetBlue Airways’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe JetBlue Airways is more favorable than Delta Air Lines.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Delta Air Lines	$63.36 billion	0.92	$5.00 billion	$5.01	17.65
JetBlue Airways	$9.06 billion	0.15	-$602.00 million	($2.68)	-1.34

Delta Air Lines has higher revenue and earnings than JetBlue Airways. JetBlue Airways is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Delta Air Lines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Delta Air Lines	4.58%	16.83%	4.26%
JetBlue Airways	-10.01%	-56.96%	-5.96%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

69.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.7% of JetBlue Airways shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Delta Air Lines shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of JetBlue Airways shares are held 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.

Summary

Delta Air Lines beats JetBlue Airways on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, Inc. provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Airline and Refinery. Its domestic network centered on core hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Salt Lake City, as well as coastal hub positions in Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, and Seattle; and international network centered on hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, Bogota, Lima, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Sao Paulo, Seoul-Incheon, and Tokyo. The company sells its tickets through various distribution channels, including delta.com and the Fly Delta app; acts as a reservations specialists; and operates online travel and traditional brick and mortar agencies. It also provides aircraft maintenance and engineering support, repair, and overhaul services; and vacation packages to third-party consumers. The company operates through a fleet of approximately 1,273 aircrafts. Delta Air Lines, Inc. was founded in 1924 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

About JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways Corporation provides air transportation services. The company operates a fleet of Airbus A321, Airbus A220, Airbus A321neo, Airbus A320 Restyled, Airbus A320, Airbus A321 with Mint, Airbus A321neo with Mint, Airbus A321neoLR with Mint, and Embraer E190 aircraft. It also serves 100 destinations across the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America, Canada, and Europe. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Long Island City, New York.