Financial Comparison: Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) & Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)

Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Bristow Group and Southwest Airlines, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bristow Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Southwest Airlines	4	9	5	0	2.06

Southwest Airlines has a consensus price target of $33.38, indicating a potential upside of 3.40%. Given Southwest Airlines’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Southwest Airlines is more favorable than Bristow Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bristow Group and Southwest Airlines”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bristow Group	$1.42 billion	0.75	$94.80 million	$4.01	9.15
Southwest Airlines	$27.48 billion	0.62	$465.00 million	$0.66	48.91

Southwest Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than Bristow Group. Bristow Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southwest Airlines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.3% of Bristow Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.4% of Bristow Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Southwest Airlines shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Bristow Group and Southwest Airlines’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bristow Group	8.24%	12.86%	5.49%
Southwest Airlines	1.43%	6.27%	1.83%

Risk and Volatility

Bristow Group has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southwest Airlines has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Bristow Group beats Southwest Airlines on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bristow Group

Bristow Group Inc. provides vertical flight solutions. The company primarily offers aviation services to integrated, national, and independent offshore energy companies and government agencies. It also provides personnel transportation, search and rescue, medevac, ad hoc helicopter, fixed wing transportation, unmanned systems, and ad-hoc helicopter services, as well as logistical and maintenance support, training services, and flight and maintenance crews. The company has a fleet of aircrafts. It has customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dutch Caribbean, the Falkland Islands, India, Ireland, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, and United States. Bristow Group Inc. is based in Houston, Texas.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co. operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. It also provides inflight entertainment and connectivity services on Wi-Fi enabled aircraft; and Rapid Rewards loyalty program that enables program members to earn points for dollars spent on Southwest base fares. In addition, the company offers a suite of digital platforms to support customers’ travel needs, including websites and apps; and SWABIZ, an online booking tool. Further, it provides ancillary services, such as Southwest’s EarlyBird Check-In, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. Southwest Airlines Co. was incorporated in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.