Reviewing SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW) & Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY)

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

Earnings & Valuation

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

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

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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for SkyWest and Air France-KLM, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

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

Risk & Volatility

SkyWest has a beta of 1.83, indicating that its stock price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air France-KLM has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

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

Summary

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

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.

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.