Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) versus SFL (NYSE:SFL) Head to Head Contrast

SFL (NYSE:SFL) and Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for SFL and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SFL	0	0	2	0	3.00
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

SFL currently has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 49.95%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 53.93%. Given Okeanis Eco Tankers’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Okeanis Eco Tankers is more favorable than SFL.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.6% of SFL shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

SFL pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.1%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $4.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.4%. SFL pays out 108.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 105.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Okeanis Eco Tankers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares SFL and Okeanis Eco Tankers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SFL	15.17%	12.58%	3.49%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	30.17%	28.35%	10.54%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SFL and Okeanis Eco Tankers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SFL	$752.29 million	1.97	$83.94 million	$1.00	10.67
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$403.85 million	2.28	$145.25 million	$4.19	6.82

Okeanis Eco Tankers has lower revenue, but higher earnings than SFL. Okeanis Eco Tankers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SFL, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers beats SFL on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SFL

SFL Corporation Ltd., a maritime and offshore asset owning and chartering company, engages in the ownership, operation, and chartering out of vessels and offshore related assets on medium and long-term charters. The company operates in various sectors of the maritime, and shipping and offshore industries, including oil transportation, dry bulk shipments, chemical transportation, oil products transportation, container transportation, car transportation, and drilling rigs. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned seven crude oil carriers, six oil product tankers, 15 dry bulk carriers, 32 container vessels, one jack-up drilling rig, one ultra-deepwater drilling rig, and five car carriers. It primarily operates in Bermuda, Canada, Cyprus, Liberia, Namibia, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the Marshall Islands. The company was formerly known as Ship Finance International Limited and changed its name to SFL Corporation Ltd. in September 2019. SFL Corporation Ltd. was founded in 2003 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp., a shipping company, owns and operates tanker vessels worldwide. It operates a fleet of 14 tanker vessels comprising six modern Suezmax tankers and eight modern VLCC tankers focusing on the transportation of crude oil. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is based in Neo Faliro, Greece.