Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. DAL scored 58.4, SKYW scored 68.4 — SKYW leads.
Compare another set
Different reporting periods. DAL's fundamentals are as of September 2026, but SKYW's are as of June 2026 — a 3-month gap. Growth, margin and valuation figures below therefore describe different windows and aren't strictly like-for-like.
DAL
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Airlines · Quality-Growth
58.4
$82.17 · $54.0B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
10.0
SKYW leads
SKYW
SkyWest, Inc.
Airlines · Quality-Growth
68.4
$96.52 · $3.7B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestSKYW9.6x
Fastest growthDAL+14.1%
Strongest balance sheetSKYW0.86
Highest qualitySKYW71 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueSKYW-69%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
DAL
stronger →← stronger
SKYW
64
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
71
50
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
50
62
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
91
SKYW is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
DAL
SKYW
$3.5bB
FCF
$909mC+
+14.1%B+
Rev
+9.1%B
0.97C+
D/E
0.86C+
13.6xA-
P/E
9.6xA
0.21A
PEG
1.66C+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
DAL
SKYW
4% above
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
69% below
~11%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-20%/yr
-16%
1-yr DCF upside
+187%
-4%
5-yr DCF upside
+224%
+15%
10-yr DCF upside
+284%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
DAL
Why this score
Raising its dividend
Durable high returns
Cyclical growth
SKYW
Why this score
Buying back stock
Cyclical growth
The companies
DALDelta Air Lines, Inc.
Airlines · $82.17 · beta 1.34
Why now
Airlines · market cap $54.0b. 14% off the 52-week high of $95.68. Revenue growing +14%, comfortably above the S&P median. PEG 0.21 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 24 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $101.48 (implying +23% upside).
Moat
ROE 15% meets the long-run market sustainable threshold — solid but not differentiated; the durability comes from elsewhere. FCF converts 107% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash. $54.0b market cap gives the company enough scale to absorb fixed costs that subscale competitors can't, without yet being so large that growth has to come from acquisition.
Risk
Net margin 4.6% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first.
SKYWSkyWest, Inc.
Airlines · $96.52 · beta 1.48
Why now
Airlines · market cap $3.7b. 18% off the 52-week high of $117.72. 6 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $125.33 (implying +30% upside).
Moat
ROE 15% meets the long-run market sustainable threshold — solid but not differentiated; the durability comes from elsewhere. Free cash flow runs well ahead of reported net income.
Risk
Beta 1.48 implies above-market volatility — position-size to the drawdowns this name will produce in a market correction, not to its bull-case return.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where DAL and SKYW diverge
On the headline score the gap is 10.0 points in favor of SKYW. The widest single difference is Value, where SKYW leads by 28.9 points.
ValueDAL 62.0 · SKYW 90.9SKYW +28.9
QualityDAL 64.3 · SKYW 70.5SKYW +6.2
GrowthDAL 50.0 · SKYW 50.0level
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is SKYW or DAL the better stock?
SKYW scores higher: SKYW 68.4, DAL 58.4 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do SKYW and DAL differ most?
The widest gap is value, where SKYW leads by 29 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. SKYW also leads quality, while growth is effectively level between them.
How are SKYW and DAL scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.