American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) & Flughafen Wien (OTCMKTS:VIAAY) Financial Review

American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) and Flughafen Wien (OTCMKTS:VIAAY) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

52.4% of American Airlines Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of American Airlines Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

American Airlines Group has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flughafen Wien has a beta of -0.19, meaning that its share price is 119% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for American Airlines Group and Flughafen Wien, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Airlines Group	2	9	6	0	2.24
Flughafen Wien	0	0	0	0	0.00

American Airlines Group presently has a consensus target price of $14.67, indicating a potential upside of 5.90%. Given American Airlines Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe American Airlines Group is more favorable than Flughafen Wien.

Profitability

This table compares American Airlines Group and Flughafen Wien’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Airlines Group	0.36%	-9.11%	0.57%
Flughafen Wien	16.30%	11.13%	7.77%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares American Airlines Group and Flughafen Wien”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Airlines Group	$54.63 billion	0.17	$111.00 million	$0.31	44.68
Flughafen Wien	$1.28 billion	3.35	$209.26 million	$0.65	19.60

Flughafen Wien has lower revenue, but higher earnings than American Airlines Group. Flughafen Wien is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Airlines Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

American Airlines Group beats Flughafen Wien on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About American Airlines Group

American Airlines Group Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a network air carrier. The company provides scheduled air transportation services for passengers and cargo through its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C., as well as through partner gateways in London, Doha, Madrid, Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney, and Tokyo. It operates a mainline fleet of 965 aircraft. The company was formerly known as AMR Corporation and changed its name to American Airlines Group Inc. in December 2013. American Airlines Group Inc. was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

About Flughafen Wien

Flughafen Wien Aktiengesellschaft, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the construction and operation of civil airports and related facilities in Austria. The company operates through five segments: Airport, Handling & Security Services, Retail & Properties, Malta, and Other. It manages the Vienna airport. The company's Airport segment operates and maintains aircraft movement areas and terminals, as well as equipment and facilities for passenger and baggage handling, as well as security controls for passengers. This segment also offers various services to support airport operations, deals with emergencies and disruptions, and ensures security. Its Handling & Security services segment provides various services for the handling of aircraft and passengers on scheduled and charter flights, as well as for the handling of general aviation aircraft and passengers. This segment also operates the general aviation center; and provides security controls for passengers and hand luggage. The company's Retail & Properties segment offers services that support airport operations, including shopping, food and beverages, VIP, lounges, and parking, as well as develops and markets properties. This segment offers services to passengers, users of parking facilities, hotel guests, conference participants, employees at the site, and meeters and greeters. Its Malta segment operates Malta airport; and provides aviation and parking services, as well as rents retail and office space. The Other segment offers technical and repair, energy supply and waste disposal, telecommunication and information technology, electromechanical and building, construction management, and consulting services, as well as construction and maintenance services for infrastructure facilities. The company is headquartered in Schwechat, Austria.