Head to Head Analysis: Capital Clean Energy Carriers (NASDAQ:CCEC) versus Kirby (NYSE:KEX)

Capital Clean Energy Carriers (NASDAQ:CCEC) and Kirby (NYSE:KEX) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Capital Clean Energy Carriers and Kirby”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Capital Clean Energy Carriers	$369.41 million	3.57	$193.63 million	$3.19	7.08
Kirby	$3.27 billion	1.70	$286.71 million	$5.29	18.73

Kirby has higher revenue and earnings than Capital Clean Energy Carriers. Capital Clean Energy Carriers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kirby, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Capital Clean Energy Carriers and Kirby’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Capital Clean Energy Carriers	55.58%	10.91%	3.53%
Kirby	9.25%	10.07%	5.67%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Capital Clean Energy Carriers and Kirby, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Capital Clean Energy Carriers	0	1	2	0	2.67
Kirby	0	0	2	0	3.00

Capital Clean Energy Carriers currently has a consensus target price of $24.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.29%. Kirby has a consensus target price of $130.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.23%. Given Kirby’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kirby is more favorable than Capital Clean Energy Carriers.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.2% of Kirby shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Kirby shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Capital Clean Energy Carriers has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kirby has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Kirby beats Capital Clean Energy Carriers on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Capital Clean Energy Carriers

Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp., a shipping company, provides marine transportation services in Greece. The company’s vessels provide a range of cargoes, including liquefied natural gas, containerized goods, and cargo under short-term voyage charters, and medium to long-term time charters. It owns vessels, including Neo-Panamax container vessels, Panamax container vessels, cape-size bulk carrier, and LNG carriers. In addition, the company produces and distributes oil and natural gas, including biofuels, motor oil, lubricants, petrol, crudes, liquefied natural gas, marine fuels, natural gas liquids, and petrochemicals. It serves as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Capital Product Partners L.P. and changed its name to Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. in August 2024. Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Piraeus, Greece. Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. operates as a subsidiary of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp.

About Kirby

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transports petrochemicals, black oils, refined petroleum products, and agricultural chemicals by tank barges; and operates offshore dry-bulk barges and tugboat units that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargos in the United States coastal trade. It owns and operates 1,076 inland tank barges, approximately 281 inland towboats, 28 coastal tank barges, 25 coastal tugboats, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barges, 4 offshore tugboats, and a docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement parts for engines, transmissions, reduction gears, electric motors, drives, and controls, electrical distribution and control systems, energy storage battery systems, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuilds component parts or diesel engines, transmissions and reduction gears, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generators, industrial compressors, high capacity lift trucks, and refrigeration trailers; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems. It serves to various companies, the United States government, and pleasure crafts. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.