SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) versus Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY) Financial Contrast

Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY) and SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Air France-KLM and SkyWest, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air France-KLM	0	1	0	0	2.00
SkyWest	0	1	2	0	2.67

SkyWest has a consensus price target of $121.33, suggesting a potential upside of 51.23%. Given SkyWest’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SkyWest is more favorable than Air France-KLM.

Profitability

This table compares Air France-KLM and SkyWest’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air France-KLM	0.39%	19.62%	0.34%
SkyWest	9.15%	14.17%	4.61%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Air France-KLM and SkyWest”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air France-KLM	$32.49 billion	0.06	$1.01 billion	$0.11	7.03
SkyWest	$3.53 billion	0.92	$322.96 million	$7.77	10.33

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

Risk & Volatility

Air France-KLM has a beta of 1.5, suggesting that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SkyWest has a beta of 2, suggesting that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.9% of Air France-KLM shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.3% of SkyWest shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of SkyWest shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

SkyWest beats Air France-KLM on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air France-KLM

AIR FRANCE-KLM is an airline company. The Company’s core business is passenger transport, cargo transport, and aircraft maintenance services. The Group is the world leader in terms of international passenger traffic; and its cargo activity (not including integrators) and is one of the world’s major maintenance service providers. The Group structure is simple: a holding company with two airline subsidiaries. Air France-KLM has established a set of clearly defined commitments to ensure that its strategy of profitable growth goes hand in hand with environmental quality and social progress.

About SkyWest

SkyWest, Inc. is the holding company for two scheduled passenger airline operations and an aircraft leasing company. SkyWest’s airline companies provide commercial air service in cities throughout North America with nearly 3,000 daily flights carrying more than 53 million passengers annually. SkyWest Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. ExpressJet Airlines operates through partnerships with United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. Based in St. George, Utah, SkyWest employs nearly 17,000 employees.