Head to Head Survey: Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) vs. Frontier Group (NASDAQ:ULCC)

Frontier Group (NASDAQ:ULCC) and Bristow Group (NYSE:VTOL) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Frontier Group has a beta of 2.55, meaning that its stock price is 155% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bristow Group has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Frontier Group and Bristow Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Frontier Group	2	5	2	0	2.00
Bristow Group	0	0	2	0	3.00

Frontier Group currently has a consensus price target of $6.38, indicating a potential upside of 37.39%. Given Frontier Group’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Frontier Group is more favorable than Bristow Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Frontier Group and Bristow Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Frontier Group	$3.78 billion	0.28	$85.00 million	($0.61)	-7.61
Bristow Group	$1.47 billion	0.87	$94.80 million	$4.78	9.20

Bristow Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Frontier Group. Frontier Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bristow Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Frontier Group and Bristow Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Frontier Group	-3.65%	-25.73%	-2.10%
Bristow Group	9.71%	14.83%	6.43%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.3% of Bristow Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 48.0% of Frontier Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 13.4% of Bristow Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Bristow Group beats Frontier Group on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Frontier Group

Frontier Group Holdings, Inc., provides low-fare passenger airline services to leisure travelers in the United States and Latin America. The company sells its products through direct distribution channels, including its website, mobile app, and contact centers. As of December 31, 2023, it had a fleet of 136 Airbus single-aisle aircrafts. Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Bristow Group

Bristow Group Inc. provides vertical flight solutions. The company primarily offers aviation services to integrated, national, and independent offshore energy companies and government agencies. It also provides personnel transportation, search and rescue, medevac, ad hoc helicopter, fixed wing transportation, unmanned systems, and ad-hoc helicopter services, as well as logistical and maintenance support, training services, and flight and maintenance crews. The company has a fleet of aircrafts. It has customers in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Dutch Caribbean, the Falkland Islands, India, Ireland, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad, the United Kingdom, and United States. Bristow Group Inc. is based in Houston, Texas.