Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT – Get Free Report) and Imperial Petroleum (NASDAQ:IMPP – Get Free Report) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Nordic American Tankers and Imperial Petroleum, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Nordic American Tankers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Imperial Petroleum | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Nordic American Tankers presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.25%. Imperial Petroleum has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.72%. Given Imperial Petroleum’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Imperial Petroleum is more favorable than Nordic American Tankers.
Risk and Volatility
Profitability
This table compares Nordic American Tankers and Imperial Petroleum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Nordic American Tankers | 7.58% | 2.67% | 1.54% |
| Imperial Petroleum | 29.79% | 13.80% | 8.04% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
44.3% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.4% of Imperial Petroleum shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Imperial Petroleum shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Nordic American Tankers and Imperial Petroleum”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Nordic American Tankers | $225.10 million | 3.01 | $46.64 million | $0.07 | 45.71 |
| Imperial Petroleum | $147.48 million | 1.07 | $50.16 million | $1.02 | 4.50 |
Imperial Petroleum has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Nordic American Tankers. Imperial Petroleum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nordic American Tankers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Imperial Petroleum beats Nordic American Tankers on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Nordic American Tankers
Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
About Imperial Petroleum
Imperial Petroleum Inc. provides international seaborne transportation services to oil producers, refineries, and commodities traders. It carries refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and jet fuel, as well as edible oils and chemicals, crude oils, iron ore, coal and grains, and minor bulks, such as bauxite, phosphate, and fertilizers. As of April 1, 2024, the company owned and operated a fleet of six medium range refined petroleum product tankers; one Aframax tanker; two suezmax tankers; and two handysize drybulk carriers with a total capacity of 791,000 deadweight tons. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Athens, Greece.
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