Analyzing Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC) & Matson (NYSE:MATX)

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico (NYSE:PAC) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Matson has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.7% of Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson 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.

Dividends

Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico pays an annual dividend of $7.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Matson pays out 10.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico pays out 77.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Matson has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Matson and Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0	4	2	0	2.33
Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico	0	4	2	0	2.33

Matson currently has a consensus price target of $156.25, suggesting a potential downside of 2.34%. Given Matson’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico.

Profitability

This table compares Matson and Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	13.30%	16.63%	9.75%
Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico	24.06%	41.85%	12.11%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Matson and Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.46	$444.80 million	$13.94	11.48
Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico	$2.16 billion	5.45	$522.03 million	$10.25	22.72

Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Matson. Matson is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Matson beats Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V., together with its subsidiaries, holds concessions to develop, operate, and manage airports in Mexico and Jamaica. The company operates twelve international airports in Guadalajara and Tijuana areas, Mexico; and two international airports in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It also offers aeronautical services, such as passenger, aircraft landing, parking, airport security, and passenger walkway and airport bus, as well as car packing charges; complementary services, including baggage handling, catering, aircraft maintenance and repair, and fuel; cargo handling; and ground transportation services. In addition, the company provides non-aeronautical services, such as redesigning and modernizing terminal spaces and developing new projects; telephone and internet services; and ground handling services under the brand Primesky, as well as advertising services. Further, it engages in commercial activities comprising leasing space in terminals to airlines and other service providers; to retail stores, such as souvenir and gift shops, fashion and footwear stores, pharmacies, jewelry, electronics, cosmetics, and others; to various food and beverage services; car rental service companies, including parking spots, lots, and car rental reservation booths; to timeshare developers; to financial service providers; and to operators of duty-free stores. Additionally, the company operates parking facilities; VIP lounges; convenience stores; and vending machines. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Guadalajara, Mexico.