Comparing Japan Airlines (JAPSY) & Its Peers

Japan Airlines (OTCMKTS:JAPSY) is one of 78 publicly-traded companies in the “Passenger Airlines” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Japan Airlines to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Japan Airlines pays an annual dividend of $0.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Japan Airlines pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Passenger Airlines” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.6% and pay out 23.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Japan Airlines is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Japan Airlines has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Japan Airlines’ competitors have a beta of 17.40, indicating that their average share price is 1,640% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Japan Airlines and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Japan Airlines	$13.37 billion	$860.68 million	11.40
Japan Airlines Competitors	$15.07 billion	$637.69 million	18.56

Japan Airlines’ competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Japan Airlines. Japan Airlines is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.8% of shares of all “Passenger Airlines” companies are held by institutional investors. 10.5% of shares of all “Passenger Airlines” companies are held 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 Japan Airlines and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Japan Airlines	5.68%	8.82%	3.72%
Japan Airlines Competitors	-17.95%	6.05%	1.13%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Japan Airlines and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Japan Airlines	0	1	0	0	2.00
Japan Airlines Competitors	1524	4058	6675	353	2.46

As a group, “Passenger Airlines” companies have a potential upside of 15.80%. Given Japan Airlines’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Japan Airlines has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Japan Airlines competitors beat Japan Airlines on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Japan Airlines Company Profile

Japan Airlines Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services in Japan, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe. The company operates through Air Transportation and Other segments. It offers passenger, ground handling, cargo and mail handling, and maintenance services. The company is also involved in the aerial work and other related business; airport peripheral business; and sale of travel package tours. As of March 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 224 aircraft. The company was formerly known as Japan Airlines International Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. in April 2011. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.