Financial Analysis: Imperial Petroleum (NASDAQ:IMPP) versus BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP)

BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP) and Imperial Petroleum (NASDAQ:IMPP) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for BW LPG and Imperial Petroleum, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BW LPG	0	1	2	0	2.67
Imperial Petroleum	0	1	1	0	2.50

Imperial Petroleum has a consensus target price of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 64.84%. Given Imperial Petroleum’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Imperial Petroleum is more favorable than BW LPG.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BW LPG and Imperial Petroleum”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BW LPG	$3.56 billion	0.53	$354.30 million	$1.13	12.63
Imperial Petroleum	$147.48 million	0.89	$50.16 million	$1.04	3.50

BW LPG has higher revenue and earnings than Imperial Petroleum. Imperial Petroleum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BW LPG, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares BW LPG and Imperial Petroleum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BW LPG	4.57%	8.78%	5.04%
Imperial Petroleum	28.61%	13.60%	8.08%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.4% of Imperial Petroleum shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Imperial Petroleum shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Imperial Petroleum beats BW LPG on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BW LPG

BW LPG Limited, an investment holding company, engages in ship owning and chartering activities worldwide. The company operates through Shipping and Product Services segments. The company involved in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas to oil companies, and trading and utility companies. It also offers integrated liquified petroleum gas (LPG) delivery services and support; wholesale and trade of LPG; and management services. It owns and operates LPG vessels and a fleet of very large gas carriers. The company was formerly known as BW Gas LPG Holding Limited and changed its name to BW LPG Limited in September 2013. BW LPG Limited was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Singapore.

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.