Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE) and StealthGas (NASDAQ:GASS) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
78.3% of Eagle Bulk Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.8% of StealthGas shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Eagle Bulk Shipping shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Eagle Bulk Shipping and StealthGas, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Eagle Bulk Shipping | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3.00 |
StealthGas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Eagle Bulk Shipping currently has a consensus target price of $25.3750, suggesting a potential downside of 13.51%. StealthGas has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 69.81%. Given StealthGas' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe StealthGas is more favorable than Eagle Bulk Shipping.
Profitability
This table compares Eagle Bulk Shipping and StealthGas' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Eagle Bulk Shipping | -17.08% | -9.71% | -4.46% |
StealthGas | 9.28% | 3.08% | 1.82% |
Volatility and Risk
Eagle Bulk Shipping has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its share price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, StealthGas has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Eagle Bulk Shipping and StealthGas' revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Eagle Bulk Shipping | $292.38 million | 1.11 | $-21,700,000.00 | ($1.75) | -16.77 |
StealthGas | $144.26 million | 0.70 | $2.09 million | $0.11 | 24.09 |
StealthGas has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Eagle Bulk Shipping. Eagle Bulk Shipping is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than StealthGas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
StealthGas beats Eagle Bulk Shipping on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.