FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ:FTAI) and Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) Head-To-Head Comparison

FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ:FTAI) and Leonardo DRS (NASDAQ:DRS) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

FTAI Aviation has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Leonardo DRS has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares FTAI Aviation and Leonardo DRS”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FTAI Aviation	$2.51 billion	7.37	$501.06 million	$4.93	36.49
Leonardo DRS	$3.65 billion	2.59	$278.00 million	$1.36	26.06

FTAI Aviation has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Leonardo DRS. Leonardo DRS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FTAI Aviation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.0% of FTAI Aviation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.8% of Leonardo DRS shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of FTAI Aviation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Leonardo DRS shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for FTAI Aviation and Leonardo DRS, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FTAI Aviation	0	2	8	0	2.80
Leonardo DRS	0	3	4	3	3.00

FTAI Aviation currently has a consensus target price of $304.38, suggesting a potential upside of 69.18%. Leonardo DRS has a consensus target price of $51.50, suggesting a potential upside of 45.33%. Given FTAI Aviation’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe FTAI Aviation is more favorable than Leonardo DRS.

Profitability

This table compares FTAI Aviation and Leonardo DRS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FTAI Aviation	15.46%	135.72%	11.85%
Leonardo DRS	9.40%	14.33%	9.29%

Dividends

FTAI Aviation pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Leonardo DRS pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. FTAI Aviation pays out 40.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Leonardo DRS pays out 26.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

FTAI Aviation beats Leonardo DRS on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FTAI Aviation

FTAI Aviation Ltd. owns and acquires aviation and offshore energy equipment for the transportation of goods and people worldwide. It operates through two segments, Aviation Leasing and Aerospace Products. The Aviation Leasing segment owns and manages aviation assets, including aircraft and aircraft engines, which it leases and sells to customers. As of December 31, 2023, this segment owned and managed 363 aviation assets consisting of 96 commercial aircraft and 267 engines, including eight aircraft and seventeen engines that were located in Russia. The Aerospace Products segment develops, manufactures, repairs, and sells aircraft engines and aftermarket components for aircraft engines. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Leonardo DRS

Leonardo DRS, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides defense electronic products and systems, and military support services. It operates through Advanced Sensing and Computing (ASC) segment, and Integrated Mission Systems (IMS) segments. The ASC segment designs, develops, and manufacture sensing and network computing technology that enables real-time situational awareness required for enhanced operational decision making and execution; and offers sensing capabilities span applications, such as missions requiring advanced detection, precision targeting and surveillance sensing, long range electro-optic/infrared, signals intelligence, and other intelligence systems including electronic warfare, ground vehicle sensing, active electronically scanned array tactical radars, dismounted soldier, and space sensing. This segment also provides network computing, which are utilized across a range of mission applications including platform computing on ground and shipboard for advanced battle management, combat systems, radar, command and control, tactical networks, tactical computing, and communications. The IMS segment designs, develops, manufacture, and integrates power conversion, control, and distribution systems, ship propulsion systems, motors and variable frequency drives, force protection systems, transportation, and logistics systems for the U.S. and allied defense customers. This segment also offers electrical propulsion systems, which includes power conversion, control, distribution, and propulsion systems, as well as power dense permanent magnet motors, energy storage systems and associated efficient, rugged, and compact power conversion, electrical actuation systems, as well as cooling technologies; and motor controllers, instrumentation and control equipment, electrical actuation systems, and thermal management systems. The company was incorporated in 1968 and is based in Arlington, Virginia. Leonardo DRS, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Leonardo S.p.A.