Financial Comparison: Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) & Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY)

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.9% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.9% of Air France-KLM shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Delta Air Lines shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Delta Air Lines	5.61%	30.41%	5.30%
Air France-KLM	0.39%	19.62%	0.34%

Risk & Volatility

Delta Air Lines has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air France-KLM has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Delta Air Lines	0	0	13	1	3.07
Air France-KLM	0	1	0	0	2.00

Delta Air Lines presently has a consensus price target of $78.22, indicating a potential upside of 55.57%. Given Delta Air Lines’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Delta Air Lines is more favorable than Air France-KLM.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Delta Air Lines	$61.64 billion	0.53	$3.46 billion	$5.33	9.43
Air France-KLM	$32.49 billion	0.09	$1.01 billion	$0.11	10.64

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

Summary

Delta Air Lines beats Air France-KLM on 13 of the 15 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 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.