Head-To-Head Contrast: General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) & Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP)

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) and Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP) are both aerospace companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares General Dynamics and Wheels Up Experience”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
General Dynamics	$47.72 billion	1.94	$3.78 billion	$14.90	23.07
Wheels Up Experience	$792.10 million	1.72	-$339.64 million	($0.47)	-4.16

General Dynamics has higher revenue and earnings than Wheels Up Experience. Wheels Up Experience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than General Dynamics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

General Dynamics has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wheels Up Experience has a beta of 2.32, suggesting that its share price is 132% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.1% of General Dynamics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of General Dynamics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares General Dynamics and Wheels Up Experience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
General Dynamics	8.13%	17.99%	7.21%
Wheels Up Experience	-42.68%	N/A	-25.12%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for General Dynamics and Wheels Up Experience, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
General Dynamics	1	11	10	1	2.48
Wheels Up Experience	1	0	0	0	1.00

General Dynamics currently has a consensus target price of $315.78, indicating a potential downside of 8.14%. Given General Dynamics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe General Dynamics is more favorable than Wheels Up Experience.

Summary

General Dynamics beats Wheels Up Experience on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services. The Marine Systems segment designs and builds nuclear-powered submarines, surface combatants, and auxiliary ships for the United States Navy and Jones Act ships for commercial customers, as well as builds crude oil and product tankers, and container and cargo ships; provides maintenance, modernization, and lifecycle support services for navy ships; offers and program management, planning, engineering, and design support services for submarine construction programs. The Combat Systems segment manufactures land combat solutions, such as wheeled and tracked combat vehicles, Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, piranha vehicles, weapons systems, munitions, mobile bridge systems with payloads, tactical vehicles, main battle tanks, armored vehicles, and armaments; and offers modernization programs, engineering, support, and sustainment services. The Technologies segment provides information technology solutions and mission support services; mobile communication, computers, and command-and-control mission systems; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions to military, intelligence, and federal civilian customers; cloud computing, artificial intelligence; machine learning; big data analytics; development, security, and operations; and unmanned undersea vehicle manufacturing and assembly services. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

About Wheels Up Experience

Wheels Up Experience Inc. provides private aviation services in the United States and internationally. The company offers Wheels Up Membership program that consists of two primary membership categories, such as Individual membership for individual and business fliers; and UP for Business membership consists of small and medium enterprise, and custom enterprise solutions for business fliers that tend to spend at higher levels. Its Wheels Up Charter provides charter flight services for passenger groups, sports teams, global corporate events, and tour operations, as well as global passenger, cargo, emergency, and government services. In addition, the company offers wholesale charter services; group charter and cargo flights; maintenance, repair, and operations services; fixed-base operator services; safety and security services; and government, defense, emergency, and medical transport missions. It serves individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers. As of December 31, 2024, the company operated a fleet of 154 owned and leased aircraft. Wheels Up Experience Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Chamblee, Georgia.