KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) & Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Head-To-Head Analysis

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) and Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and risk.

Dividends

KNOT Offshore Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Safe Bulkers pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. KNOT Offshore Partners pays out 10.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Safe Bulkers pays out 46.5% 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.

Risk & Volatility

KNOT Offshore Partners has a beta of -0.03, indicating that its share price is 103% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safe Bulkers has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Safe Bulkers”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KNOT Offshore Partners	$318.60 million	0.94	$13.93 million	$0.99	8.84
Safe Bulkers	$277.51 million	1.65	$97.38 million	$0.43	10.38

Safe Bulkers has lower revenue, but higher earnings than KNOT Offshore Partners. KNOT Offshore Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Safe Bulkers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for KNOT Offshore Partners and Safe Bulkers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KNOT Offshore Partners	0	2	0	1	2.67
Safe Bulkers	0	2	2	0	2.50

Safe Bulkers has a consensus target price of $4.47, suggesting a potential upside of 0.04%. Given Safe Bulkers’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Safe Bulkers is more favorable than KNOT Offshore Partners.

Profitability

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Safe Bulkers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KNOT Offshore Partners	10.00%	5.58%	1.82%
Safe Bulkers	19.25%	5.80%	3.45%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.8% of KNOT Offshore Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by institutional investors. 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Safe Bulkers beats KNOT Offshore Partners on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP acquires, owns, and operates shuttle tankers under long-term charters in the North Sea and Brazil. The company provides loading, transportation, and discharge of crude oil under time charters and bareboat charters. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Aberdeen, the United Kingdom.

About Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons. Its fleet consists of 10 Panamax class vessels, 11 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 post-Panamax class vessels, and 8 Capesize class vessels. Safe Bulkers, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Monaco.