Global Ship Lease (GSL) Competitors

Global Ship Lease (NYSE:GSL) and Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in GSL or CMRE?

50.1% of Global Ship Lease shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.1% of Costamare shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.4% of Global Ship Lease shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.2% of Costamare shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend GSL or CMRE?

Global Ship Lease currently has a consensus target price of $30.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.41%. Costamare has a consensus target price of $13.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.19%. Given Costamare's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Costamare is more favorable than Global Ship Lease.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Global Ship Lease	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Costamare	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is GSL or CMRE more profitable?

Global Ship Lease has a net margin of 53.09% compared to Costamare's net margin of 17.10%. Global Ship Lease's return on equity of 24.81% beat Costamare's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Global Ship Lease	53.09%	24.81%	15.30%
Costamare	17.10%	13.67%	6.95%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, GSL or CMRE?

Global Ship Lease has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Costamare. Global Ship Lease is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costamare, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Global Ship Lease	$711.05M	1.43	$353.63M	$10.77	2.64
Costamare	$2.09B	0.66	$319.92M	$2.36	4.82

Is GSL or CMRE a better dividend stock?

Global Ship Lease pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Costamare pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Global Ship Lease pays out 19.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costamare pays out 19.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Global Ship Lease has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Global Ship Lease is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to GSL or CMRE?

In the previous week, Costamare had 2 more articles in the media than Global Ship Lease. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Costamare and 4 mentions for Global Ship Lease. Costamare's average media sentiment score of 0.54 beat Global Ship Lease's score of 0.52 indicating that Costamare is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Global Ship Lease	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costamare	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, GSL or CMRE?

Global Ship Lease has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costamare has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Global Ship Lease beats Costamare on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.