Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP) versus GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) Critical Review

GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) and Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.8% of GE Aerospace shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of GE Aerospace shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

GE Aerospace has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wheels Up Experience has a beta of 2.34, meaning that its stock price is 134% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for GE Aerospace and Wheels Up Experience, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GE Aerospace	2	2	16	0	2.70
Wheels Up Experience	1	0	0	0	1.00

GE Aerospace presently has a consensus price target of $309.44, indicating a potential downside of 3.09%. Given GE Aerospace’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe GE Aerospace is more favorable than Wheels Up Experience.

Profitability

This table compares GE Aerospace and Wheels Up Experience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GE Aerospace	18.34%	34.01%	5.26%
Wheels Up Experience	-46.59%	N/A	-28.26%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares GE Aerospace and Wheels Up Experience”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GE Aerospace	$38.70 billion	8.70	$6.56 billion	$7.49	42.63
Wheels Up Experience	$792.10 million	1.01	-$339.64 million	($0.51)	-2.17

GE Aerospace has higher revenue and earnings than Wheels Up Experience. Wheels Up Experience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GE Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

GE Aerospace beats Wheels Up Experience on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GE Aerospace

GE Aerospace (also known as General Electric) is a company that specializes in providing aerospace products and services. It operates through two reportable segments: Commercial Engines and Services and Defense and Propulsion Technologies. It offers jet and turboprop engines, as well as integrated systems for commercial, military, business, and general aviation aircraft. GE demerged into GE Vernova, GE Aerospace, and GE Healthcare.

About Wheels Up Experience

Wheels Up Experience Inc. provides private aviation services in the United States and internationally. The company offers Wheels Up Membership program that consists of two primary membership categories, such as Individual membership for individual and business fliers; and UP for Business membership consists of small and medium enterprise, and custom enterprise solutions for business fliers that tend to spend at higher levels. Its Wheels Up Charter provides charter flight services for passenger groups, sports teams, global corporate events, and tour operations, as well as global passenger, cargo, emergency, and government services. In addition, the company offers wholesale charter services; group charter and cargo flights; maintenance, repair, and operations services; fixed-base operator services; safety and security services; and government, defense, emergency, and medical transport missions. It serves individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers. As of December 31, 2024, the company operated a fleet of 154 owned and leased aircraft. Wheels Up Experience Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Chamblee, Georgia.