Reviewing Matson (NYSE:MATX) and CBL International (NASDAQ:BANL)

CBL International (NASDAQ:BANL) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares CBL International and Matson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CBL International	N/A	N/A	N/A
Matson	13.30%	16.63%	9.75%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for CBL International and Matson, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CBL International	1	0	0	0	1.00
Matson	0	4	2	0	2.33

Matson has a consensus target price of $156.25, suggesting a potential upside of 3.07%. Given Matson’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than CBL International.

Volatility & Risk

CBL International has a beta of 0.54, suggesting that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matson has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CBL International and Matson”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CBL International	$592.52 million	0.03	-$3.87 million	N/A	N/A
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.38	$444.80 million	$13.94	10.87

Matson has higher revenue and earnings than CBL International.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.1% of CBL International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Matson shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Matson beats CBL International on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CBL International

CBL International Limited, a marine fuel logistics company, provides vessel refueling solutions in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore, and internationally. It facilitates vessel refueling between ship operators and local physical distributors/traders by purchasing marine fuel, including both fossil fuel and alternative fuel. The company’s services to its customers include vessel refueling options available at ports; arranges vessel refueling activities and local physical delivery of marine fuel; and coordinates vessel refueling schedule. It also offers trade credit; handles unforeseeable circumstances and provides contingency solutions; fulfills special requests related to vessel refueling; and handles disputes relates to quality and quantity issues on marine fuel. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. CBL International Limited operates as a subsidiary of CBL (Asia) Limited.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.