United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL)
Industrials · NMS · US
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
United Airlines Holdings, Inc. trades at USD118.81, which is 124% below the USD266.55 our discounted cash flow model puts on the business. On that measure alone it screens as undervalued, though a DCF is an argument rather than a measurement, and the market is frequently right about why something is cheap.
Our moat model scores it 54 out of 100, which is a moat, but not a deep one. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 10.8 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
About United Airlines Holdings, Inc.
United Airlines Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides air transportation services in the United States, Canada, Atlantic, the Pacific, and Latin America. It transports people and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. The company also offers ground handling, flight academy, frequent flyer award non-travel redemptions, and maintenance services for third parties. In addition, it provides freight and mail transportation services to commercial businesses, freight forwarders, logistics firms, and national postal services, as well as loyalty programs. The company distributes its products through direct channels, such as the Company's website and the Company's mobile app; and traditional travel agencies, online travel agencies, and other intermediaries. The company was formerly known as United Continental Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to United Airlines Holdings, Inc. in June 2019. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1968 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
UAL passes 3 of our 30 screens today
Each screen prints the exact criteria it used, and the circumstances in which it is wrong.
Smart money ownership
18 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Lewis Sanders, Sanders Capital, LLC$1.40B · 1.7% of book
- Ken Griffin, CITADEL ADVISORS LLC$377.01M · 0.1% of book
- Cliff Asness, AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC$324.51M · 0.1% of book
- David Greenspan, Slate Path Capital LP$286.62M · 4.3% of book
- Steve Cohen, Point72 Asset Management, L.P.$150.41M · 0.2% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) undervalued?
Against our discounted cash flow estimate of USD266.55, UAL at USD118.81 is 124% below fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation, and most of a DCF's output sits in a terminal value nobody can forecast.
Which funds own UAL?
18 of the institutions we track reported a position in UAL in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is UAL's P/E ratio?
UAL trades at 10.8 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
The full research page for UAL, with financial statements, ownership detail, peer comparison and alerts, is free inside the app.
Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.