Head-To-Head Contrast: Saab (OTCMKTS:SAABY) & Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE:SPR)

Saab (OTCMKTS:SAABY) and Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE:SPR) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Saab has a beta of -0.02, indicating that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spirit Aerosystems has a beta of 1.7, indicating that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Saab and Spirit Aerosystems”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Saab	$6.03 billion	4.96	$394.58 million	$0.61	45.79
Spirit Aerosystems	$6.32 billion	0.77	-$2.14 billion	($20.02)	-2.08

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Saab and Spirit Aerosystems, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Saab	1	1	0	1	2.33
Spirit Aerosystems	0	2	0	1	2.67

Spirit Aerosystems has a consensus price target of $38.63, suggesting a potential downside of 7.10%. Given Spirit Aerosystems’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Spirit Aerosystems is more favorable than Saab.

Profitability

This table compares Saab and Spirit Aerosystems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Saab	7.45%	13.82%	5.19%
Spirit Aerosystems	-37.46%	N/A	-26.28%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.6% of Spirit Aerosystems shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Spirit Aerosystems shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Saab beats Spirit Aerosystems on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Saab

Saab AB (publ) provides products, services, and solutions for military defense, aviation, and civil security markets worldwide. The company operates through Aeronautics, Dynamics, Surveillance, Kockums, and Combitech segments. The company develops military aviation technology, as well as conducts studies on manned and unmanned aircraft. It also provides ground combat weapons, missile systems, torpedoes, unmanned underwater vehicles, training and simulation systems, and signature management systems for armed forces; and niche products for the civil and defense market, such as underwater vehicles for the offshore industry. In addition, the company offers solutions for safety and security, surveillance and decision support, and threat detection, location, and protection, including airborne, ground-based and naval radar, electronic warfare, and combat systems, as well as C4I solutions. Additionally, it provides submarines with the Stirling system for air independent propulsion, surface combatants, mine hunting systems, and autonomous vessels; and systems development, systems integration, information security, systems security, communications, mechanics, and technical product information and logistics. Saab AB (publ) was incorporated in 1937 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.

About Spirit Aerosystems

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. engages in the design, engineering, manufacture, and marketing of commercial aerostructures worldwide. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment offers forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections and systems, floor beams, nacelles, struts/pylons, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, flaps and slats flight control surfaces, wing structures, and wing systems. This segment primarily serves commercial and business/regional jet programs. The Defense & Space segment engages in the fabrication, bonding, assembly, testing, tooling, processing, engineering analysis, and training on fuselage, strut, nacelle, and wing aerostructures; provision of missiles and hypersonics solutions, such as solid rocket motor throats, nozzles, re-entry vehicle thermal protections systems; forward cockpit and cabin, and fuselage work on rotorcraft aerostructures; and classified programs. This segment primarily serves U.S. Government defense programs. The Aftermarket segment provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services; fuselage, strut, nacelle, and wing aerostructures spare parts; repair services for radome, flight control surfaces, and nacelles; rotable assets trading and leasing; and engineering services. This segment primarily serves both commercial and defense and space programs. The company was formerly known as Mid-Western Aircraft Systems Holdings, Inc. Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas.