DAL vs UAL Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
DAL has long been viewed as the industry's premium operator with superior reliability, margins, and loyalty economics, while UAL offers a strong international network and an aggressive premium-expansion strategy aimed at closing the historical margin gap with Delta.
DAL vs UAL contrasts the airline industry's traditional margin and reliability leader against a strong international competitor pursuing an ambitious premium-revenue growth strategy.
DAL holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. DAL has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+33.88% vs +3.16%), though UAL has the better forward P/E setup (7.26x vs 9.21x for DAL). DAL leads on both revenue growth (18.70%) and operating margin (7.92%), suggesting a stronger fundamental setup on both dimensions. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for UAL (+45.94%) than for DAL (+31.37%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to the airline industry's most consistent operator
- Value strong premium and loyalty revenue economics
- Prefer a track record of superior margins among legacy carriers
- Want exposure to a strong international long-haul network
- Believe United's premium cabin expansion will close the margin gap with Delta
- See upside in continued operational and loyalty program improvement
| Metric | DAL | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 44.6 | 43.3 |
| AI ranki | #809 | #880 |
| Latest closei | $79.62 | $108.71 |
| 1M returni | -4.41% | -6.11% |
| 6M returni | +25.50% | +20.86% |
| 1Y returni | +33.88% | +3.16% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | DAL | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $13.32K (+33.2%) started 2025-09-19 | $10.23K (+2.3%) started 2025-09-19 |
| 5Y ago | $20.36K (+103.6%) started 2021-09-20 | $24.01K (+140.1%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $26.27K (+162.7%) started 2016-09-19 | $21.33K (+113.3%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | DAL | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $52.66B | $35.9B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 13.28 | 10.36 |
| Forward P/Ei | 9.21 | 7.26 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 0.48 |
| EV/Revenuei | 1.01 | 0.84 |
| Analyst targeti | $105.19 | $161.41 |
| Target upsidei | +31.37% | +45.94% |
| Metric | DAL | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 18.70% | 16.00% |
| Earnings growthi | -25.40% | -17.20% |
| EPS growthi | -25.40% | -17.20% |
| FCF margini | +4.13% | +1.45% |
| Operating margini | 7.92% | 5.53% |
| Profit margini | 5.78% | 5.56% |
| ROIC proxyi | 20.13% | 23.25% |
| Return on equityi | 20.13% | 23.25% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.97% | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 12.44% | 0.00% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 1.31 | 1.29 |
| Debt/equityi | 96.65 | 201.64 |
| Current ratioi | 0.42 | 0.78 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.27 | 0.69 |
Over the past year, DAL and UAL have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.89), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | DAL | UAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +33.23% | +2.26% |
| CAGRi | +33.35% | +2.26% | |
| Volatilityi | 39.04% | 48.07% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.82 | 0.19 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.31 | 0.29 | |
| Max drawdowni | 23.11% | 27.50% | |
| Current drawdowni | 14.99% | 20.13% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.43% | 10.61% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 8.42% | 12.98% | |
| Max daily dropi | 6.82% | 8.70% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.05% | 18.04% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +99.38% | +140.14% |
| CAGRi | +14.81% | +19.17% | |
| Volatilityi | 40.80% | 48.94% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.43 | 0.51 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.66 | 0.78 | |
| Max drawdowni | 47.92% | 49.19% | |
| Current drawdowni | 14.99% | 20.13% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 15.35% | 16.58% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 18.61% | 19.83% | |
| Max daily dropi | 12.78% | 15.61% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 24.57% | 29.73% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +135.32% | +113.32% |
| CAGRi | +8.94% | +7.87% | |
| Volatilityi | 42.02% | 51.66% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.31 | 0.32 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.45 | 0.47 | |
| Max drawdowni | 69.18% | 79.40% | |
| Current drawdowni | 14.99% | 20.13% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 22.79% | 31.63% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 28.54% | 39.05% | |
| Max daily dropi | 25.99% | 30.29% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 44.95% | 56.67% |
| Category | DAL | UAL |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Delta Air Lines, Inc. | United Airlines Holdings, Inc. |
| Sector | Industrials | Industrials |
| Industry | Airlines | Airlines |
| Core business | Delta Air Lines is one of the largest U.S. legacy carriers, operating an extensive domestic and international network with a strong hub system and a high-margin premium and loyalty revenue strategy. | United Airlines operates one of the largest global route networks among U.S. carriers, with a strong international long-haul presence and a growing focus on premium cabin expansion and loyalty monetization. |
| Investor focus | Investors track Delta's premium cabin and loyalty (SkyMiles/Amex co-brand) revenue growth, operational reliability metrics, and margin leadership relative to peers. | Investors track United's international long-haul capacity growth, premium seat expansion strategy, and progress narrowing its historical margin gap with Delta. |
- Industry-leading operational reliability and on-time performance
- Strong premium and loyalty revenue mix supports higher margins
- Lucrative American Express co-brand credit card partnership
- Extensive international long-haul network with strong hub positions like Chicago, Newark, and Houston
- Aggressive premium cabin expansion strategy aimed at higher-margin revenue
- Growing loyalty program monetization through MileagePlus
- Highly cyclical industry sensitive to fuel costs and economic downturns
- Labor cost inflation following recent pilot and crew contract negotiations
- Heavy capital intensity of fleet maintenance and renewal
- Historically less consistent operational reliability than Delta
- Margins have lagged Delta though the gap has been narrowing
- Significant fleet investment required to execute premium expansion plans
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