Analyzing Copa (NYSE:CPA) and Air China (OTCMKTS:AIRYY)

Air China (OTCMKTS:AIRYY) and Copa (NYSE:CPA) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Air China and Copa, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Air China	0	0	0	0	0.00
Copa	0	1	8	1	3.00

Copa has a consensus price target of $159.43, indicating a potential upside of 31.23%. Given Copa’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Copa is more favorable than Air China.

Profitability

This table compares Air China and Copa’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Air China	0.19%	0.79%	0.09%
Copa	18.83%	26.39%	11.19%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.1% of Copa shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Air China and Copa”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Air China	$23.19 billion	0.64	-$32.35 million	$0.02	892.50
Copa	$3.44 billion	1.45	$608.11 million	$16.08	7.56

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

Volatility & Risk

Air China has a beta of -0.09, indicating that its share price is 109% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Copa has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Copa beats Air China on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Air China

Air China Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides air passenger, air cargo, and airline-related services in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, China, and internationally. The company operates in Airline Operations and Other Operations segments. It provides aircraft engineering and airport ground handling services. The company is also involved in the import and export trading activities; and provision of cabin, airline catering, air ticketing, human resources, aircraft overhaul and maintenance, and financial services. Air China Limited was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

About Copa

Copa Holdings, S.A., through its subsidiaries, provides airline passenger and cargo services. The company offers approximately 375 daily scheduled flights to 82 destinations in 32 countries in North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean from its Panama City hub. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 106 aircraft comprising 76 Boeing 737-Next Generation aircraft, 29 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, and one Boeing 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter. The company was founded in 1947 and is based in Panama City, Panama.