ALASKA AIR GROUP, INC. vs COPA HOLDINGS, S.A., two Airlines stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Alaska's balance sheet carries 1.45 turns of debt and a 0.43 current ratio, the post-Hawaiian-integration load; Copa runs Panama's hub with no net debt at all, and the difference in freight shows everywhere downstream: Copa earns a 22.6% operating margin against Alaska's negative 8.4% (a merger-cost artifact over a 0.5% net line), and returns 24.2% on equity against 2%. The market prices Copa at 9.6 times earnings; Alaska's trailing multiple is unusable mid-integration, though its 19.7% free-cash figure hints what the combined airline throws off beneath the charges. Two mid-cap carriers, one running the hemisphere's tidiest hub monopoly, one digesting an acquisition; the clean one is also the cheap one, which airline investors will recognize as rare.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | ALK | CPA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $53.84 | $157.01 |
| Market cap | $6.2B | $6.5B |
| Sector | Airlines | Airlines |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| P/E | — | 9.6 |
| P/B | 1.65 | 2.33 |
| P/S | 0.43 | 1.79 |
| EV/EBITDA | 10.8 | 5.2 |
| Revenue growth | +14.6% | +29.4% |
| Operating margin | -8.4% | 22.6% |
| Net margin | 0.5% | 18.6% |
| Return on equity | 2.0% | 24.2% |
| Return on assets | 0.4% | 10.2% |
| Return on invested capital | 1.9% | 25.6% |
| FCF yield | 19.7% | 17.8% |
| Dividend yield | 0.7% | — |
| Debt / equity | 1.45 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 0.43 | 1.31 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 6.76 | 2.66 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.