Contrasting Conrad Industries (OTCMKTS:CNRD) and Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP)

Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP) and Conrad Industries (OTCMKTS:CNRD) are both small-cap aerospace companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Wheels Up Experience has a beta of 1.86, indicating that its share price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Conrad Industries has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Wheels Up Experience and Conrad Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wheels Up Experience	-38.17%	N/A	-27.37%
Conrad Industries	6.07%	19.95%	12.76%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Wheels Up Experience and Conrad Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wheels Up Experience	1	0	0	0	1.00
Conrad Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.6% of Conrad Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.5% of Conrad Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Wheels Up Experience and Conrad Industries”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wheels Up Experience	$736.49 million	0.28	-$294.22 million	($7.89)	-0.71
Conrad Industries	$327.55 million	0.40	$19.88 million	$3.96	6.62

Conrad Industries has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Wheels Up Experience. Wheels Up Experience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Conrad Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Conrad Industries beats Wheels Up Experience on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wheels Up Experience

Wheels Up Experience Inc. provides private aviation services in the United States and internationally. The company offers Wheels Up Membership program that consists of two primary membership categories, such as Individual membership for individual and business fliers; and UP for Business membership consists of small and medium enterprise, and custom enterprise solutions for business fliers that tend to spend at higher levels. Its Wheels Up Charter provides charter flight services for passenger groups, sports teams, global corporate events, and tour operations, as well as global passenger, cargo, emergency, and government services. In addition, the company offers wholesale charter services; group charter and cargo flights; maintenance, repair, and operations services; fixed-base operator services; safety and security services; and government, defense, emergency, and medical transport missions. It serves individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers. As of December 31, 2024, the company operated a fleet of 154 owned and leased aircraft. Wheels Up Experience Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Chamblee, Georgia.

About Conrad Industries

Conrad Industries, Inc. engages in the construction, conversion, and repair of various steel and aluminum marine vessels in the United States. The company builds harbor tugs; specialty barges, such as crane, deck, ABS class, dry bulk cargo, aggregate, and well stim barges; inland tank, LPG inland tank, LPG pressure, LPG tank, and DS tank barges; and offshore support vessels, including liftboats, crew boats, offshore supply vessels, and offshore tugs, as well as other support equipment, such as deck and crane barges. It also builds inland pushboats comprising inland towboats, inland river push boats, and towboats; and ferries, which consist of passenger, and passenger and vehicle ferries. In addition, the company offers repairs and conversions, including electrical, mechanical, propulsion, and hull repairs to large-scale conversions of ships and barges; and engages in the fabrication of modular components for offshore floating production, storage, and offloading vessels, as well as drilling rigs. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Morgan City, Louisiana.