Head to Head Contrast: Flex LNG (NYSE:FLNG) vs. Costamare (NYSE:CMRE)

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) and Flex LNG (NYSE:FLNG) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Costamare and Flex LNG, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costamare	0	3	0	0	2.00
Flex LNG	0	2	0	0	2.00

Costamare currently has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential downside of 27.56%. Flex LNG has a consensus price target of $23.00, suggesting a potential downside of 23.89%. Given Flex LNG’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Flex LNG is more favorable than Costamare.

Volatility and Risk

Costamare has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Flex LNG has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.1% of Costamare shares are owned by institutional investors. 23.2% of Costamare shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Flex LNG shares are owned by company 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.

Dividends

Costamare pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Flex LNG pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.9%. Costamare pays out 16.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Flex LNG pays out 215.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Costamare and Flex LNG’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costamare	33.19%	15.52%	8.35%
Flex LNG	21.52%	13.46%	3.83%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Costamare and Flex LNG”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Costamare	$877.90 million	2.27	$364.58 million	$2.85	5.81
Flex LNG	$347.64 million	4.70	$74.82 million	$1.39	21.74

Costamare has higher revenue and earnings than Flex LNG. Costamare is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Flex LNG, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Costamare beats Flex LNG on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Costamare

Costamare Inc. owns and operates containerships and dry bulk vessels that are chartered to liner companies providing transportation of cargoes worldwide. As of March 19, 2024, it had a fleet of fleet of 68 containerships and 37 dry bulk vessels. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Monaco.

About Flex LNG

FLEX LNG Ltd. engages in the seaborne transportation of liquefied natural gas (LPG) through the ownership and operation of LNG carriers. The company was founded by Philip Eystein Fjeld, Trym Tveitnes and Jostein Ueland in September 2006 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.