Air France-KLM (OTC:AFLYY) vs. Deutsche Lufthansa (OTCMKTS:DLAKY) Financial Review

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

Volatility & Risk

Air France-KLM has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Deutsche Lufthansa has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air France-KLM	0	1	0	0	2.00
Deutsche Lufthansa	1	2	0	2	2.60

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) 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	7.30
Deutsche Lufthansa	$38.36 billion	0.21	$1.81 billion	$1.26	5.27

Deutsche Lufthansa has higher revenue and earnings than Air France-KLM. Deutsche Lufthansa 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.

Profitability

This table compares Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa’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%
Deutsche Lufthansa	2.46%	11.33%	2.41%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

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

Summary

Deutsche Lufthansa beats Air France-KLM on 8 of the 12 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 Deutsche Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG operates as an aviation company worldwide. It operates in three segments: Passenger Airlines; Logistics; and Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Services (MRO). The Passenger Airlines segment offers products and services to passengers of Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings. Its Logistics segment offers airfreight container management, urgent shipments, and customs clearance services; and e-commerce solutions. The MRO segment provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services for civil commercial aircraft serving original equipment manufacturers, aircraft leasing companies, operators of VIP jets, government, armed forces, and airlines. The company also offers corporate payment and billing services; vocational and professional training for cockpit and cabin crew; and IT solutions. As of December 31, 2023, it had a fleet of 721 aircraft. Deutsche Lufthansa AG was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Cologne, Germany.