Compare Southwest Airlines Co (LUV) vs Ryanair Holdings plc (RYAAY) Price & Performance
Price performance (Past 24H)
Key statistics
Key statistics
Southwest Airlines Co vs Ryanair Holdings plc — how do they compare? Southwest Airlines Co trades at $45.71 (market cap $21.97B), while Ryanair Holdings plc trades at $59.4 (market cap $29.86B). The key difference: Ryanair Holdings plc is the larger of the two by market cap, and Southwest Airlines Co pays the higher dividend (1.6%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| LUV | RYAAY | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $21.97B | $29.86B |
Sector | Industrials | Industrials |
52-Week High | $54.80 | $73.82 |
52-Week Low | $29.67 | $53.24 |
Enterprise Value | $25.06B | $26.83B |
Dividend Yield | 1.6% | 1.51% |
Aura AI Summary
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Aura AI Summary
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Southwest Airlines (LUV) trades at $47.05, up 0.23% today, with a bullish technical signal and consensus price target of $53.86. Recent Q2 2026 earnings beat expectations with EPS of $0.94 versus $0.51 expected, driven by record revenue. The company maintains a solid liquidity position of $8.73B cash and has declared quarterly dividends of $0.18 per share, with new board appointments signaling strategic focus.
Outlook is positive with projected 2026 net income margin of 2.78% and revenue growth to $30.1B, but risks include fuel cost volatility and competitive pressures. Analyst sentiment is mixed with 42% buy ratings, offering potential upside of 14.5% to the consensus target, though institutional selling by firms like Elliott Management warrants monitoring.
RYAAY trades at $60.19, down 0.59% on the day, with a neutral technical signal and bearish moving averages. The company reported mixed quarterly earnings, missing in Q4 2025 and Q2 2026 but beating in Q1 2026. Fundamentals show strong profitability with a 12.13% net margin and 22.41% ROE, supported by $13.95B revenue in 2025. Analyst sentiment is positive with a 62.5% buy rating, though recent news highlights pressure from lower fares and higher fuel costs.
The outlook for RYAAY is cautiously optimistic, with potential upside from industry consolidation and a strong balance sheet, but near-term risks include volatile fuel prices, competitive pricing pressure, and geopolitical tensions affecting travel demand. The stock's valuation at a P/E of 14.56 appears reasonable if earnings stabilize.
Returns comparison
Trailing returns across standard periods
Returns comparison
Trailing returns across standard periods
Top news
Latest headlines on both assets
Top news
Latest headlines on both assets
About Southwest Airlines Co
Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic carrier in the United States, as measured by the number of originating passengers boarded. Southwest operates over 700 aircraft in an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Despite expanding into longer routes and business travel, the airline still specializes in short-haul leisure flights, using a point-to-point network. Southwest operates a low-cost carrier business model.
Read more on LUV →About Ryanair Holdings plc
Ryanair is the leading airline group by passenger numbers in Europe. The company employs a low-cost no-frills model to offer low fares to leisure customers on short-haul intra-European routes. In 2020, the most recent pre-pandemic fiscal year, the company carried 149 million passengers, utilizing a fleet of 467 Boeing 737 aircraft across its 1,800 routes. To keep costs low the company serves predominantly lower-cost secondary airports. The company generated sales of EUR 8.5 billion in fiscal 2020.
Read more on RYAAY →
