Financial Contrast: China Eastern Airlines (OTCMKTS:CHEAF) versus United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL)

United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) and China Eastern Airlines (OTCMKTS:CHEAF) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.7% of United Airlines shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of United Airlines shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for United Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Airlines	0	3	10	0	2.77
China Eastern Airlines	0	0	1	0	3.00

United Airlines presently has a consensus target price of $64.93, suggesting a potential upside of 37.45%. Given United Airlines’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe United Airlines is more favorable than China Eastern Airlines.

Profitability

This table compares United Airlines and China Eastern Airlines’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Airlines	4.87%	41.01%	4.63%
China Eastern Airlines	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares United Airlines and China Eastern Airlines’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Airlines	$53.72 billion	0.29	$2.62 billion	$7.88	5.99
China Eastern Airlines	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

United Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than China Eastern Airlines.

Summary

United Airlines beats China Eastern Airlines on 8 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About United Airlines

United Airlines Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Latin America. The company transports people and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. It also offers catering, ground handling, flight academy, and maintenance services for third parties. The company was formerly known as United Continental Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to United Airlines Holdings, Inc. in June 2019. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About China Eastern Airlines

China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates in the civil aviation industry in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and internationally. The company offers passenger, cargo, mail delivery, ground, tour operations, air catering, and other miscellaneous services. It is also involved in flight training; airline maintenance; the provision of import and export, investment, leasing, and consultation; business aviation; e-commerce platform and ticket agent; and property management services, as well as the research and development of technology and products in the field of aviation; and sale of goods. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a fleet of 778 aircraft, including 775 passenger aircraft and 3 business aircraft. China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited was founded in 1957 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.