In early-2015, United Airlines (UAL) had a market capitalization of $24.8 billion, debt of $12.8 billion, and cash of $5.5 billion. United also had annual revenues of $38.9 billion. Southwest Airlines (LUV) had a market capitalization of $28.8 billion, debt of $2.7 billion, cash of $2.9 billion, and annual revenues of $18.6 billion.
a. Compare the market capitalization-to-revenue ratio (also called the price-to-sales ratio) for United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
b. Compare the enterprise value-to-revenue ratio for United Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
c. Which of these comparisons is more meaningful? Explain.