Head-To-Head Contrast: Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) & Navigator (NYSE:NVGS)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Navigator and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Navigator	0	0	5	0	3.00
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Navigator presently has a consensus target price of $21.60, suggesting a potential upside of 33.91%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 85.97%. Given Okeanis Eco Tankers’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Okeanis Eco Tankers is more favorable than Navigator.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Navigator and Okeanis Eco Tankers”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Navigator	$564.28 million	2.09	$82.25 million	$1.13	14.27
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$399.71 million	1.91	$145.25 million	$3.63	6.52

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Navigator	14.48%	7.40%	4.23%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	29.25%	27.00%	10.04%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

19.0% of Navigator shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Navigator shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Navigator pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Navigator pays out 17.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 48.5% 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.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd. engages in owning and operating a fleet of liquefied gas carriers worldwide. It provides international and regional seaborne transportation services of petrochemical gases, liquefied petroleum gases, and ammonia for energy companies, industrial users, and commodity traders. The company also offers ship shore infrastructure and consultancy services. It operates a fleet of 56 semi- or fully-refrigerated liquefied gas carriers. The company was formerly known as Isle of Man public limited company and changed its name to Navigator Holdings Ltd. in 2006. Navigator Holdings Ltd. was incorporated in 1997 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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.