United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL)

FairStock Score: 61/100 — STEADY

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I look at United as a large, cyclical airline with scale but little true pricing power. It moves people and cargo through a global network and employed 117,900 people, yet in fiscal Q3 2026, the quarter ended 2026-09-30, it earned $1.0B on $17.9B of revenue—a 5.76% margin. That is a thin cushion for an industry where demand and fuel costs swing. The filed numbers show fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $17.9B versus $15.2B in fiscal Q3 2025, and net income of $1.0B versus $949M, so the top line is growing, but the improvement is not enormous. For FY2025, United reported revenue of $59.1B, net income of $3.4B, and diluted EPS of $10.20. The balance sheet is the worry: FairStock's debt-to-equity is 2.02 and its Altman Z-score is 0.65, which points to financial stress. Return on capital employed is only 3.38%, while the 23.25% return on equity is flattered by leverage. Free cash flow is $1.1B, a 3.4% FCF yield. At the $100.69 close on 2026-10-26, FairStock's P/E is 9.43, P/B is 1.96, EV/EBITDA is 10.50, and the Graham Number is $114.59, leaving a 14.54% margin of safety. The FairStock score is 60/100. This is not a franchise I would call wide-moated; it is a statistically cheap cyclical with real balance-sheet risk. Price is modestly below my estimate of fair value, but I want a larger discount for the leverage and cyclicality.

In plain English: United Airlines flies people and cargo around the world. In fiscal Q3 2026, the quarter ended 2026-09-30, it earned $1.0B on $17.9B of revenue. The business looks profitable but highly borrowed and sensitive to the economy; at $100.69, the price looks modestly cheap versus reported earnings and a simple fair-value check, though the risks are high.

The full AI analysis, bull and bear case and key monitorables are in FairStock Pro.

Data as of 2026-10-26 close · note generated 2026-10-28 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q3 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-09-30) · fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-06-30) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-03-31) · fiscal Q3 2025 10-Q (period ended 2025-09-30) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-12-31) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-12-31) · FY2023 10-K (period ended 2023-12-31)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer