FedEx vs United Airlines
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The short version
- FedEx is the larger business, with $94.7B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $59.1B for United Airlines, about 1.6 times as much.
- FedEx grew revenue faster (7.7%, against 3.5%).
- United Airlines kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (8.0% operating margin, against 5.8%).
- FedEx turned more of its sales into free cash flow (5.4% FCF margin, against 4.3%).
- United Airlines earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (15.3%, against 9.4%).
| Latest fiscal year | FDX · FY26 | UAL · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $71.4B | $32.1B |
| Revenue | $94.7B | $59.1B |
| Free cash flow | $5.1B | $2.6B |
| Net income | $4.4B | $3.4B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 7.7% | 3.5% |
| 5-year growth | 2.4% | 30.9% |
| Share count change | −1.7% | −1.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 5.8% | 8.0% |
| Net margin | 4.7% | 5.7% |
| FCF margin | 5.4% | 4.3% |
| Return on capital | 9.4% | 15.3% |
| Return on equity | 14.9% | 24.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $13.9B | $9.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.4x | 1.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $2.2B | $637M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 9.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
FDX $60.3B
UAL $37.7B
FY18
FDX $65.5B
UAL $41.3B
FY19
FDX $69.7B
UAL $43.3B
FY20
FDX $69.2B
UAL $15.4B
FY21
FDX $84.0B
UAL $24.6B
FY22
FDX $93.5B
UAL $45.0B
FY23
FDX $90.2B
UAL $53.7B
FY24
FDX $87.7B
UAL $57.1B
FY25
FDX $87.9B
UAL $59.1B
FY26
FDX $94.7B
UAL —
FDX
UAL
Operating margin
FY17
FDX 7.6%
UAL 9.6%
FY18
FDX 6.5%
UAL 7.8%
FY19
FDX 6.4%
UAL 9.9%
FY20
FDX 3.5%
UAL −41.4%
FY21
FDX 7.0%
UAL −4.2%
FY22
FDX 6.7%
UAL 5.2%
FY23
FDX 5.5%
UAL 7.8%
FY24
FDX 6.3%
UAL 8.9%
FY25
FDX 5.9%
UAL 8.0%
FY26
FDX 5.8%
UAL —
FDX
UAL
Free cash flow
FY17
FDX −$186M
UAL −$396M
FY18
FDX −$989M
UAL $2.1B
FY19
FDX $123M
UAL $2.4B
FY20
FDX −$771M
UAL −$5.9B
FY21
FDX $4.3B
UAL −$40.0M
FY22
FDX $3.1B
UAL $1.2B
FY23
FDX $2.7B
UAL −$260M
FY24
FDX $3.1B
UAL $3.8B
FY25
FDX $3.0B
UAL $2.6B
FY26
FDX $5.1B
UAL —
FDX
UAL
Return on capital
FY17
FDX 11.7%
UAL 15.5%
FY18
FDX 14.3%
UAL 13.6%
FY19
FDX 11.2%
UAL 16.0%
FY20
FDX 5.4%
UAL −23.5%
FY21
FDX 12.5%
UAL −3.9%
FY22
FDX 12.8%
UAL 8.3%
FY23
FDX 9.3%
UAL 14.1%
FY24
FDX 10.2%
UAL 16.2%
FY25
FDX 9.2%
UAL 15.3%
FY26
FDX 9.4%
UAL —
FDX
UAL
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.