ALK vs AAL Stock Comparison

Alaska Air and American Airlines Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ALK Alaska Air Group, Inc.
$34.96 -14.6% 1M -20.1% 1Y
Market cap
$4.00B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$15.31B
Div. yield
–
Airlines Industrials
3 wins

Head to Head

6 decided of 12

American Airlines leads on 3 of the 12 questions below (American Airlines 3, Alaska Air 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionALKAALLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $4.00B $8.36B AAL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -10.1x -25.6x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — — –
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +8.2% +7.5% ALK
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — -0.6% –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 3.6% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 7.6x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -20.1% -11.5% AAL
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -7.9%/yr -8.5%/yr ALK
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 52.1% 47.1% AAL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 34/100 29/100 ALK

Percentile Scorecard

ALKAAL

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisALKAAL
Valuation 73 #37 of 136 70 #42 of 136
Growth 9 #111 of 122 14 #105 of 122
Profitability 21 #92 of 116 24 #89 of 116
Financial Health – 8 #133 of 144
Shareholder Returns – –
Overall 34 29
  • ALK ranked among 150 companies in Transportation
  • AAL ranked among 150 companies in Transportation

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodALKAALSPY
1 month -14.6%-12.0% -0.8%
3 months -26.4%-18.4% +3.5%
6 months -13.6%+4.5% +7.0%
Year to date -30.5%-20.4% +12.2%
1 year -20.1%-11.5% +13.0%
3 years +11.9%+11.7% +86.3%
3 years, per year +3.8%+3.8% +23.1%
5 years -33.7%-35.9% +68.6%
5 years, per year -7.9%-8.5% +11.0%
10 years -50.9%-69.0% +258.0%
10 years, per year -6.9%-11.0% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureALKAALSPY
Volatility, 1Y 52.1%47.1% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 50.0%45.8% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 2.281.92 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.39-0.24 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -56.2%-59.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -41.9%-32.8% -1.8%
52-week high $60.21$18.15 $779.14
52-week low $33.56$10.18 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleALKAAL
P/E now vs peer median -9.8xmedian 16.1x -24.8xmedian 16.1x
P/S now vs peer median 0.3xmedian 1.0x 0.1xmedian 1.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 8.7x 10.4xmedian 8.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median -12.7xmedian 11.5x 28.3xmedian 11.5x
P/B now vs peer median 1.1xmedian 1.2x -2.0xmedian 1.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.18median 0.81 0.86median 0.81

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsALKAAL
Revenue $15.31B $58.34B
Operating income -$290.00M $1.01B
Net income -$395.00M -$326.00M
Free cash flow – $285.00M
EPS (diluted) $-3.55 $-0.49
Cash & equivalents $835.00M –
Total debt – $28.93B
Shares (diluted) 111.13M 662.61M
Enterprise value $4.00B -$15.68B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricALKAAL
P/E -9.8x -24.8x
P/FCF -12.7x 28.3x
P/Operating cash flow 4.1x 1.8x
P/S 0.3x 0.1x
P/B 1.1x -2.0x
P/Tangible book 1.4x -1.3x
EV/EBITDA – 10.4x
EV/EBIT – 30.0x
EV/Revenue 0.3x 0.5x
EV/FCF – 106.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 4.1x 6.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.18 0.86

Growth

14 metrics
MetricALKAAL
Revenue growth (1Y) 8.2% 7.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 13.9% 3.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – –
Operating income growth (1Y) -196.3% -51.7%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -40.2% -41.0%
Net income growth (1Y) -363.3% -157.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -52.2% -28.5%
EPS growth (1Y) -378.4% -157.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -55.7% -28.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -29.7% 6.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -5.4% 0.2%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – -81.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – -47.4%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricALKAAL
Gross margin – –
EBITDA margin – 5.0%
Operating margin – 1.7%
Pretax margin – -0.6%
Net margin – -0.6%
FCF margin – 0.5%
Operating cash flow margin 6.1% 7.5%
Return on equity -11.0% –
Return on assets -1.9% -0.5%
Return on invested capital – 3.6%
Return on capital employed – 2.7%
Asset turnover 0.7x 0.9x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -2.4x -13.4x
Stock comp / revenue – –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricALKAAL
Debt / assets – 45.0%
Debt / equity – -7.3x
Net debt / EBITDA – 7.6x
Debt / FCF – 101.5x
Liabilities / assets – 106.2%
Equity / assets 16.8% -6.2%
Interest coverage – 0.6x
Current ratio 0.5x 0.5x
Quick ratio – 0.7x
Cash ratio – 0.3x
Altman Z-score – 0.64

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricALKAAL
Dividend yield – –
Net buyback yield – –
Shareholder yield 0.0% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusALKAAL
EPS, next fiscal year $-4.68FY2026 $-1.14FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -291.8%FY2026 -416.7%FY2026
Revenue, next fiscal year $15.35BFY2026 $59.78BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +7.8%FY2026 +9.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +9.7% +8.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersALKAAL
Held by institutions 92.1% 78.0%
Institutions holding 490 578
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.0% +16.5%
Institutions buying 265 276
Institutions selling 146 182
Buyers to sellers 1.82 1.52

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ALKAAL
ALK 1.00 0.78
AAL 0.78 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ALK and AAL?

American Airlines (AAL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Alaska Air (ALK) $4.00B, American Airlines (AAL) $8.36B.

Which company is growing faster?

Alaska Air (ALK) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Alaska Air (ALK) +8.2%, American Airlines (AAL) +7.5%.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year American Airlines (AAL) returned the most: Alaska Air (ALK) -20.1%, American Airlines (AAL) -11.5%. Over five years, Alaska Air (ALK) compounded fastest (Alaska Air (ALK) -7.9%/yr, American Airlines (AAL) -8.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, American Airlines (AAL) has been the steadiest (Alaska Air (ALK) 52.1%, American Airlines (AAL) 47.1%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do ALK and AAL move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.78, a strong positive relationship. Holding both adds little diversification.

Which is the better stock, ALK and AAL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, American Airlines (AAL) leads on 3. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.