Alaska Air vs United Airlines
ALK and UAL side by side, both in air transportation, scheduled, and air courier. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How ALK and UAL compare
United Airlines is the larger company, worth 8.5 times as much as Alaska Air ($33.8B against $4.0B).
Alaska Air grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (9.8% versus 8.5% for United Airlines).
United Airlines keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 5.6% compared with −1.2% at Alaska Air.
United Airlines scores higher on the StockData Score (10 against 6 for Alaska Air), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | ALK | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $4.0B | $33.8B |
| Share price | $35.71 | $104.24 |
| Change, 1 year | −14.5% | 8.7% |
| Change, 5 years | −39.8% | 97.8% |
| Beta (5Y) | 1.08 | 1.43 |
| Employees | 36K | 113K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 6 | 10 (better) |
| Valuation score | 3 | 3 |
| Growth score | 3 (better) | 1 |
| Performance score | 0 | 4 (better) |
| Health score | 0 | 2 (better) |
| Dividend score | 0 | 0 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | – | 9.8× |
| P/S | 0.3× (better) | 0.5× |
| P/B | 1.1× (better) | 2.0× |
| EV/EBITDA | 12.5× | 5.5× (better) |
| P/FCF | – | 13.3× |
| PEG | – | 0.15 |
| FCF yield | – | 7.5% |
| Fair value | $77.28 | $135.89 |
| Margin of safety | 53.8% (better) | 23.3% |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 9.8% (better) | 8.5% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 31.9% (better) | 30.9% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | −156% | 5.6% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −164% | 7.0% (better) |
| Profitability | ||
| Operating margin | −1.5% | 7.7% (better) |
| Net margin | −1.2% | 5.6% (better) |
| FCF margin | – | 4.0% |
| Return on equity | −4.6% | 23.3% (better) |
| Return on invested capital | −2.6% | 14.8% (better) |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 1.65 | 1.58 (better) |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.75 | 1.25 (better) |
| Interest coverage | −0.7× | 3.7× (better) |
| Current ratio | 0.55 | 0.78 (better) |
| Altman Z-score | 0.93 | 1.34 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 6 (better) |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Buyback yield | 7.2% (better) | 0.22% |
| Shareholder yield | 7.2% (better) | 0.22% |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 92.1% | 89.7% |
| Held by insiders | 0.72% | 5.1% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$2.5M (better) | −$53.4M |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | 3 (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 10.9% | 5.4% |
Go deeper
- ALK stock overview
- ALK income statement
- ALK valuation and score
- UAL stock overview
- UAL income statement
- UAL valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.