Analyzing LATAM Airlines Group (NYSE:LTM) & easyJet (OTCMKTS:ESYJY)

easyJet (OTCMKTS:ESYJY) and LATAM Airlines Group (NYSE:LTM) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends and profitability.

Dividends

easyJet pays an annual dividend of $1.74 per share and has a dividend yield of 19.2%. LATAM Airlines Group pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. easyJet pays out 38.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LATAM Airlines Group pays out 2.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for easyJet and LATAM Airlines Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
easyJet	2	6	1	0	1.89
LATAM Airlines Group	0	1	6	1	3.00

LATAM Airlines Group has a consensus price target of $66.27, suggesting a potential upside of 26.44%. Given LATAM Airlines Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LATAM Airlines Group is more favorable than easyJet.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares easyJet and LATAM Airlines Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
easyJet	N/A	N/A	N/A	$4.53	2.00
LATAM Airlines Group	$14.49 billion	1.04	$1.46 billion	$5.44	9.63

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.0% of easyJet shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.8% of LATAM Airlines Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares easyJet and LATAM Airlines Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
easyJet	N/A	N/A	N/A
LATAM Airlines Group	9.69%	101.21%	8.80%

Summary

LATAM Airlines Group beats easyJet on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About easyJet

easyJet plc operates as a low-cost airline carrier in Europe. The company engages in the provision of holiday packages; aircraft trading and leasing activities; development of building projects; financing and insurance business; and tour operator activities. easyJet plc was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Luton, the United Kingdom.

About LATAM Airlines Group

LATAM Airlines Group S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides passenger and cargo air transportation services in Peru, Argentina, the United States, Europe, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, the Asia Pacific, and rest of Latin America. The company operates in two segments, Air Transportation; and Multiplus Coalition and Loyalty Program. It provides passenger transport services to approximately 140 destinations in 25 countries with a fleet of 322 aircrafts, well as operates loyalty programs. The company was formerly known as LAN Airlines S.A. and changed its name to LATAM Airlines Group S.A. in June 2012. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. was founded in 1929 and is based in Santiago, Chile.