Analyzing Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) and Saker Aviation Services (OTCMKTS:SKAS)

Saker Aviation Services (OTCMKTS:SKAS) and Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Saker Aviation Services and Ryanair, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saker Aviation Services	0	0	0	0	0.00
Ryanair	0	3	6	1	2.80

Ryanair has a consensus price target of $76.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.28%. Given Ryanair’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ryanair is more favorable than Saker Aviation Services.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

37.3% of Saker Aviation Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.7% of Ryanair shares are held by institutional investors. 34.6% of Saker Aviation Services shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Saker Aviation Services and Ryanair’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saker Aviation Services	N/A	-4.66%	-4.33%
Ryanair	16.29%	31.32%	14.50%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Saker Aviation Services and Ryanair”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saker Aviation Services	$9.17 million	0.74	$1.25 million	($0.42)	-16.07
Ryanair	$14.98 billion	2.53	$1.73 billion	$5.20	13.88

Ryanair has higher revenue and earnings than Saker Aviation Services. Saker Aviation Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ryanair, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Saker Aviation Services has a beta of -0.09, suggesting that its stock price is 109% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ryanair has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ryanair beats Saker Aviation Services on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Saker Aviation Services

Saker Aviation Services, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates in the aviation services segment of the general aviation industry in the United States. It serves as the operator of a Downtown Manhattan (New York) Heliport. The company was formerly known as FirstFlight, Inc. and changed its name to Saker Aviation Services, Inc. in September 2009. Saker Aviation Services, Inc. is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Ryanair

Ryanair Holdings plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled-passenger airline services in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and internationally. It is also involved in the provision of various ancillary services, such as non-flight scheduled and Internet-related services, as well as in-flight sale of beverages, food, duty-free, and merchandise; and markets car hire, travel insurance, and accommodation services through its website and mobile app. In addition, the company offers aircraft and passenger handling, ticketing, and maintenance and repair services; and markets car parking, fast-track, airport transfers, attractions, and activities on its website and mobile app, as well as sells gift vouchers. Ryanair Holdings plc was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Swords, Ireland.