Head to Head Analysis: Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) and Air China (OTCMKTS:AIRYY)

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) and Air China (OTCMKTS:AIRYY) are both transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Alaska Air Group and Air China, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alaska Air Group	0	2	9	1	2.92
Air China	0	0	0	0	0.00

Alaska Air Group presently has a consensus price target of $64.82, suggesting a potential upside of 79.02%. Given Alaska Air Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Alaska Air Group is more favorable than Air China.

Risk & Volatility

Alaska Air Group has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air China has a beta of -0.14, meaning that its share price is 114% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Alaska Air Group and Air China”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alaska Air Group	$14.24 billion	0.29	$100.00 million	$0.87	41.62
Air China	$23.19 billion	0.45	-$32.35 million	$0.02	601.25

Alaska Air Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Air China. Alaska Air Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Air China, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

81.9% of Alaska Air Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Alaska Air Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Alaska Air Group and Air China’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alaska Air Group	0.70%	7.22%	1.46%
Air China	0.19%	0.79%	0.09%

Summary

Alaska Air Group beats Air China on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alaska Air Group

Alaska Air Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates airlines. It operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The company offers scheduled air transportation services on Boeing jet aircraft for passengers and cargo in the United States, and in parts of Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, and the Bahamas; and for passengers across a shorter distance network within the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Alaska Air Group, Inc. was founded in 1932 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

About Air China

Air China Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides air passenger, air cargo, and airline-related services in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, China, and internationally. The company operates in Airline Operations and Other Operations segments. It provides aircraft engineering and airport ground handling services. The company is also involved in the import and export trading activities; and provision of cabin, airline catering, air ticketing, human resources, aircraft overhaul and maintenance, and financial services. Air China Limited was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.