Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Airlines industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Why Focus on Undervalued Airlines Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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3 Undervalued Airlines Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Airlines industry for Wednesday, May 08, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Airlines industry median.

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Alaska Air Group, Inc. is engaged in operating airlines. The Company operates two airlines, Alaska, and Horizon. It also includes McGee Air Services, an aviation services provider. It operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional and Horizon. The Mainline segment includes scheduled air transportation on Alaska's Boeing 737 (B737) aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the United States, and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, the Bahamas, and Guatemala. The Regional segment includes Horizon's and other third-party carriers scheduled air transportation on Embraer E175 (E175) aircraft for passengers across a shorter distance network within the United States, Canada, and Mexico under capacity purchase agreements (CPA). The Horizon segment includes the capacity sold to Alaska under a CPA. With its regional partners, it flies to more than 120 destinations throughout North America. It provides its guests with global access to more than 900 destinations in 170 territories.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a Value Score of 80, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.52 compared to the industry median at 0.37, this company has a higher price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s stock less attractive for value investors.

Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 23.04 compared to the industry median at 10.27. This means it has a higher share price relative to earnings compared to its peers. This could make Alaska Air Group, Inc. less attractive for value investors.

Now, let’s assess Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 5.5, when compared to the industry median of 6.9, the company may be considered undervalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 0.07%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.41. This could make Alaska Air Group, Inc. more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Lastly, let’s take a look at Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. Alaska Air Group, Inc.’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 6.66. This could make Alaska Air Group, Inc. more attractive because the lower P/FCF ratio indicates that Alaska Air Group, Inc. is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR)’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is a Germany-based aviation company, which provides passenger and cargo air transportation services worldwide. The Company's segments include Passenger Airlines, Logistics, MRO and Catering. The Passenger Airlines segment includes Lufthansa Airlines, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings. The Logistics segment includes the airfreight container management specialist Jettainer group, the time:matters Group, which specialises in urgent shipments, the subsidiary Heyworld, which specialises in tailored solutions for the e-commerce sector, CB Customs Broker, the customs and customs clearance specialist, and the Lufthansa Group’s 50% stake in the cargo airline AeroLogic. The MRO segment, represented by the Lufthansa Technik group, is a global provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services for civil and commercial aircraft. The Catering segment consists of traditional catering and onboard retail along with food commerce activities.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR) has a Value Score of 98, which is considered to be undervalued.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR)’s price-earnings ratio is 5.2 compared to the industry median at 10.3. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR) more attractive for value investors.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR)’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR) less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.41.

You can read more about Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR)’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Sun Country Airlines Holdings, Inc. operates Sun Country Airlines, a hybrid low-cost air carrier that deploys shared resources across its scheduled service, charter, and cargo businesses. The Company focuses on serving leisure and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) passengers, charter customers, and providing crew, maintenance, and insurance (CMI) service to Amazon.com Services, LLC (Amazon), with flights throughout the United States and to destinations in Canada, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Its Passenger segment consists of two businesses: Scheduled Service and Charter. These businesses both utilize the Company's passenger fleet. Its Cargo segment provides air cargo services. It flies a single-family fleet of mid-life Boeing 737-NG aircraft. Its fleet consists of about 60 Boeing 737-NG aircraft. This includes 42 aircraft in the passenger fleet, 12 cargo operated aircraft through the ATSA with Amazon, and six aircraft that are on lease to unaffiliated airlines.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc has a Value Score of 90, which is considered to be undervalued.

Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 10.1 compared to the industry median at 10.3. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc more attractive for value investors.

Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.41.

You can read more about Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Other Airlines Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Airlines stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 3 Best Airlines Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

• Alaska Air Group, Inc. stock has a Value Grade of B.
• Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ADR) stock has a Value Grade of A.
• Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Airlines industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

Additional Resources About Airlines Stocks

Want to learn more about Airlines stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

• 3 Undervalued Airlines Stocks for Wednesday, May 08
• What You Need to Know About Allegiant Travel Company's Q1 Earnings
• What You Need to Know About Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc's Q1 Earnings
• Why Allegiant Travel Company’s (ALGT) Stock Is Down 4.21%

AAII Disclaimer

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