Critical Analysis: JetBlue Airways (JBLU) and Its Competitors

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU) is one of 78 public companies in the “Passenger Airlines” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare JetBlue Airways to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

JetBlue Airways has a beta of 1.9, suggesting that its share price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, JetBlue Airways’ rivals have a beta of 18.44, suggesting that their average share price is 1,744% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for JetBlue Airways and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
JetBlue Airways	4	9	1	0	1.79
JetBlue Airways Competitors	1527	4066	6688	356	2.46

JetBlue Airways currently has a consensus price target of $4.98, indicating a potential upside of 23.86%. As a group, “Passenger Airlines” companies have a potential upside of 5.44%. Given JetBlue Airways’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe JetBlue Airways is more favorable than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares JetBlue Airways and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
JetBlue Airways	-10.01%	-56.96%	-5.96%
JetBlue Airways Competitors	-8.87%	4.80%	1.10%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.7% of JetBlue Airways shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.0% of shares of all “Passenger Airlines” companies are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of JetBlue Airways shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.5% of shares of all “Passenger Airlines” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares JetBlue Airways and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
JetBlue Airways	$9.06 billion	-$602.00 million	-1.50
JetBlue Airways Competitors	$15.28 billion	$637.69 million	19.85

JetBlue Airways’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than JetBlue Airways. JetBlue Airways is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

JetBlue Airways rivals beat JetBlue Airways on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

About JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways Corporation is a U.S. passenger airline headquartered in Long Island City, New York. Founded in 1998, the company began flying in 2000 and operates scheduled service across the United States and to destinations in the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada and Europe. The airline offers economy and premium travel options, including its Mint business-class service on select routes and additional-legroom seating. JetBlue also provides loyalty rewards through its TrueBlue program and sells vacation packages combining flights with other travel services.