Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT – Get Free Report) and Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC – Get Free Report) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.
Profitability
This table compares Nordic American Tankers and Ardmore Shipping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Nordic American Tankers | 6.39% | 2.47% | 1.28% |
| Ardmore Shipping | 13.22% | 7.02% | 5.86% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Nordic American Tankers and Ardmore Shipping, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Nordic American Tankers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Ardmore Shipping | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2.80 |
Volatility and Risk
Nordic American Tankers has a beta of -0.49, suggesting that its stock price is 149% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardmore Shipping has a beta of -0.16, suggesting that its stock price is 116% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Nordic American Tankers and Ardmore Shipping”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Nordic American Tankers | $182.54 million | 6.51 | $12.27 million | $0.07 | 80.14 |
| Ardmore Shipping | $310.20 million | 2.00 | $41.01 million | $0.89 | 17.10 |
Ardmore Shipping has higher revenue and earnings than Nordic American Tankers. Ardmore Shipping 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.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
44.3% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
Nordic American Tankers pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.1%. Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Nordic American Tankers pays out 971.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ardmore Shipping pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nordic American Tankers has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Nordic American Tankers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Summary
Ardmore Shipping beats Nordic American Tankers on 13 of the 18 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 Ardmore Shipping
Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers. Ardmore Shipping Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.
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