Air Lease (AL) & Its Peers Critical Review

Air Lease (NYSE:AL) is one of 14 publicly-traded companies in the “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Air Lease to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Air Lease and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air Lease	0	3	2	1	2.67
Air Lease Competitors	139	623	1062	67	2.56

Air Lease presently has a consensus price target of $66.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.88%. As a group, “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies have a potential upside of 20.67%. Given Air Lease’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Air Lease has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Dividends

Air Lease pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Air Lease pays out 9.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.5% and pay out 20.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Air Lease has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Air Lease and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air Lease	$3.02 billion	$1.09 billion	6.96
Air Lease Competitors	$3.87 billion	$560.27 million	-31.09

Air Lease’s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Air Lease. Air Lease is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.6% of Air Lease shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of Air Lease shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.3% of shares of all “TRANS – EQP&LSNG” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Air Lease and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air Lease	35.72%	8.54%	2.13%
Air Lease Competitors	1.28%	10.47%	1.77%

Volatility & Risk

Air Lease has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Air Lease’s rivals have a beta of 1.47, meaning that their average share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Air Lease beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Air Lease

Air Lease Corporation, an aircraft leasing company, engages in the purchase and leasing of commercial jet aircraft to airlines worldwide. It sells aircraft from its fleet to third parties, including other leasing companies, financial services companies, airlines, and other investors. The company provides fleet management services to investors and owners of aircraft portfolios. As of December 31, 2023, it owned a fleet of 463 aircraft, including 345 narrowbody aircraft and 118 widebody aircraft. Air Lease Corporation was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.