Head-To-Head Analysis: Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) & Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP)

Archer Aviation (NYSE:ACHR) and Wheels Up Experience (NYSE:UP) are both aerospace companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Archer Aviation has a beta of 3.08, suggesting that its share price is 208% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wheels Up Experience has a beta of 2.33, suggesting that its share price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Archer Aviation and Wheels Up Experience, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Archer Aviation	0	1	7	0	2.88
Wheels Up Experience	0	0	0	0	0.00

Archer Aviation presently has a consensus target price of $13.4286, indicating a potential upside of 31.91%. Given Archer Aviation’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Archer Aviation is more favorable than Wheels Up Experience.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Archer Aviation and Wheels Up Experience”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Archer Aviation	N/A	N/A	-$536.80 million	($1.35)	-7.54
Wheels Up Experience	$765.89 million	1.31	-$339.64 million	($0.47)	-3.05

Wheels Up Experience has higher revenue and earnings than Archer Aviation. Archer Aviation is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wheels Up Experience, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Archer Aviation and Wheels Up Experience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Archer Aviation	N/A	-62.65%	-51.01%
Wheels Up Experience	-42.68%	N/A	-25.12%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.3% of Archer Aviation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.7% of Archer Aviation shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Wheels Up Experience shares are owned by company 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.

Summary

Wheels Up Experience beats Archer Aviation on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Archer Aviation

Archer Aviation Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in designs, develops, and operates electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft for use in urban air mobility. The company was formerly known as Atlas Crest Investment Corp. and changed its name to Archer Aviation Inc. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Wheels Up Experience

Wheels Up Experience Inc. provides private aviation services in the United States and internationally. The company offers Wheels Up Membership program that consists of two primary membership categories, such as Individual membership for individual and business fliers; and UP for Business membership consists of small and medium enterprise, and custom enterprise solutions for business fliers that tend to spend at higher levels. Its Wheels Up Charter provides charter flight services for passenger groups, sports teams, global corporate events, and tour operations, as well as global passenger, cargo, emergency, and government services. In addition, the company offers wholesale charter services; group charter and cargo flights; maintenance, repair, and operations services; fixed-base operator services; safety and security services; and government, defense, emergency, and medical transport missions. It serves individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers. As of December 31, 2024, the company operated a fleet of 154 owned and leased aircraft. Wheels Up Experience Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Chamblee, Georgia.