Analyzing Surf Air Mobility (NYSE:SRFM) & Mesa Air Group (NASDAQ:RJET)

Mesa Air Group (NASDAQ:RJET) and Surf Air Mobility (NYSE:SRFM) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Mesa Air Group has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Surf Air Mobility has a beta of 2.65, meaning that its share price is 165% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mesa Air Group and Surf Air Mobility’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesa Air Group	4.62%	10.02%	4.21%
Surf Air Mobility	-89.51%	N/A	-57.41%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

13.3% of Mesa Air Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.7% of Surf Air Mobility shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Mesa Air Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Surf Air Mobility shares are owned by company insiders. 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mesa Air Group and Surf Air Mobility”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mesa Air Group	$2.12 billion	0.45	$76.20 million	$2.13	9.47
Surf Air Mobility	$106.56 million	0.79	-$110.56 million	($1.12)	-0.56

Mesa Air Group has higher revenue and earnings than Surf Air Mobility. Surf Air Mobility is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mesa Air Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Mesa Air Group and Surf Air Mobility, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesa Air Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
Surf Air Mobility	1	1	3	0	2.40

Surf Air Mobility has a consensus target price of $2.92, indicating a potential upside of 368.92%. Given Surf Air Mobility’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Surf Air Mobility is more favorable than Mesa Air Group.

About Mesa Air Group

Mesa Air Group is an aviation holding company whose principal business has been regional passenger airline service through its subsidiary, Mesa Airlines. Rather than primarily selling tickets under its own brand, Mesa Airlines has operated flights for larger network carriers under capacity-purchase agreements, connecting smaller and midsize communities with major airline hubs. Founded in 1980 in Farmington, New Mexico, Mesa built a regional network serving destinations across the United States. Its operations have included flights marketed under partner brands, including United Express.

About Surf Air Mobility

Surf Air Mobility Inc. operates as an electric aviation and air travel company in the United States. The company offers an air mobility platform with scheduled routes and on demand charter flights operated by third parties. Surf Air Mobility Inc. is headquartered in Hawthorne, California.