Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) versus Airbus (OTCMKTS:EADSY) Head to Head Comparison

Airbus (OTCMKTS:EADSY) and Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Airbus and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Airbus	6.92%	20.90%	3.88%
Huntington Ingalls Industries	4.71%	12.05%	4.87%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.3% of Airbus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.5% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Airbus has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Huntington Ingalls Industries has a beta of 0.29, meaning that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Airbus and Huntington Ingalls Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Airbus	1	6	4	0	2.27
Huntington Ingalls Industries	0	7	5	0	2.42

Huntington Ingalls Industries has a consensus target price of $383.22, indicating a potential upside of 21.94%. Given Huntington Ingalls Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Huntington Ingalls Industries is more favorable than Airbus.

Dividends

Airbus pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Huntington Ingalls Industries pays an annual dividend of $5.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Airbus pays out 39.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Huntington Ingalls Industries pays out 35.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Huntington Ingalls Industries has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Huntington Ingalls Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Airbus and Huntington Ingalls Industries”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Airbus	$83.05 billion	2.02	$5.91 billion	$1.84	28.85
Huntington Ingalls Industries	$12.48 billion	0.99	$605.00 million	$15.37	20.45

Airbus has higher revenue and earnings than Huntington Ingalls Industries. Huntington Ingalls Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Airbus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Huntington Ingalls Industries beats Airbus on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Airbus

Airbus SE, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and delivery of aerospace products, services, and solutions worldwide. It operates through three segments: Airbus, Airbus Helicopters, and Airbus Defence and Space. The Airbus segment develops, manufactures, markets, and sells commercial jet passenger aircraft, freighter aircraft, regional turboprop aircraft, and aircraft components, as well as provides aircraft conversion and related services. The Airbus Helicopters segment develops, manufactures, markets, and sells civil and military helicopters; and provides helicopter-related services. The Airbus Defence and Space segment designs, develops, delivers, and supports military air systems and related services. This segment also offers civil and defence space systems for telecommunications, earth observations, navigation, and science and orbital systems; missile and space launcher systems; and services around data processing from platforms, secure communication, and cyber security. The company was formerly known as Airbus Group SE and changed its name to Airbus SE in April 2017. Airbus SE was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. designs, builds, overhauls, and repairs military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls, Newport News, and Mission Technologies. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. It also provides nuclear-powered ships, such as aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as refueling and overhaul, and inactivation services of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In addition, the company offers naval nuclear support services, including fleet services comprising design, construction, maintenance, and disposal activities for in-service the U.S. Navy nuclear ships; and maintenance services on nuclear reactor prototypes. Further, the company provides C5ISR systems and operations; application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to battlefield decisions; defensive and offensive cyberspace strategies and electronic warfare; live, virtual, and constructive solutions; unmanned, autonomous systems; and fleet sustainment; and critical nuclear operations. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.