Reviewing KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) and Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN)

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) and Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN) 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, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Dividends

KNOT Offshore Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Tsakos Energy Navigation pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. KNOT Offshore Partners pays out 14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Tsakos Energy Navigation pays out 22.4% 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.

Volatility & Risk

KNOT Offshore Partners has a beta of -0.1, indicating that its share price is 110% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tsakos Energy Navigation has a beta of -0.3, indicating that its share price is 130% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for KNOT Offshore Partners and Tsakos Energy Navigation, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KNOT Offshore Partners	0	2	2	1	2.80
Tsakos Energy Navigation	0	3	1	0	2.25

KNOT Offshore Partners currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 37.66%. Tsakos Energy Navigation has a consensus target price of $29.50, indicating a potential downside of 22.93%. Given KNOT Offshore Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe KNOT Offshore Partners is more favorable than Tsakos Energy Navigation.

Profitability

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Tsakos Energy Navigation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KNOT Offshore Partners	6.38%	7.30%	2.35%
Tsakos Energy Navigation	20.15%	17.26%	8.11%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.8% of KNOT Offshore Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.2% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Tsakos Energy Navigation”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KNOT Offshore Partners	$364.44 million	0.94	$23.26 million	$0.68	14.96
Tsakos Energy Navigation	$798.69 million	1.44	$160.90 million	$4.46	8.58

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

Summary

Tsakos Energy Navigation beats KNOT Offshore Partners on 9 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 Tsakos Energy Navigation

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. engages in the provision of seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services. Its activities include the operation of crude tankers, product tankers, and liquefied natural gas carriers. The company was founded by Nikolas P. Tsakos and Michael Gordon Jolliffee in July 1993 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.