Financial Analysis: Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) & Japan Airlines (OTCMKTS:JAPSY)

Japan Airlines (OTCMKTS:JAPSY) and Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Japan Airlines and Joby Aviation, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Japan Airlines	0	1	0	1	3.00
Joby Aviation	3	3	2	0	1.88

Joby Aviation has a consensus price target of $13.64, indicating a potential upside of 85.62%. Given Joby Aviation’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Joby Aviation is more favorable than Japan Airlines.

Profitability

This table compares Japan Airlines and Joby Aviation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Japan Airlines	6.84%	10.96%	4.48%
Joby Aviation	-1,232.62%	-60.54%	-42.52%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Japan Airlines and Joby Aviation”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Japan Airlines	$13.37 billion	0.58	$914.10 million	$1.03	8.65
Joby Aviation	$53.42 million	135.34	-$929.84 million	($1.15)	-6.39

Japan Airlines has higher revenue and earnings than Joby Aviation. Joby Aviation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Japan Airlines, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Japan Airlines has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Joby Aviation has a beta of 2.71, suggesting that its share price is 171% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.8% of Joby Aviation shares are owned by institutional investors. 28.5% of Joby Aviation shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Japan Airlines beats Joby Aviation on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services in Japan, Asia, Oceania, North America, and Europe. The company operates through Air Transportation and Other segments. It offers passenger, ground handling, cargo and mail handling, and maintenance services. The company is also involved in the aerial work and other related business; airport peripheral business; and sale of travel package tours. As of March 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 224 aircraft. The company was formerly known as Japan Airlines International Co., Ltd. and changed its name to Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. in April 2011. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Joby Aviation

Joby Aviation, Inc., a vertically integrated air mobility company, engages in building an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft optimized to deliver air transportation as a service. The company intends to build an aerial ridesharing service, as well as developing an application-based platform that will enable consumers to book rides. Joby Aviation, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.