Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) versus Euronav (NYSE:CMBT) Critical Contrast

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Euronav	117.02%	22.29%	10.17%
Costamare	19.11%	14.28%	6.74%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Euronav and Costamare, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Euronav	0	0	0	0	0.00
Costamare	0	2	0	0	2.00

Costamare has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7.14%. Given Costamare’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Costamare is more favorable than Euronav.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Euronav and Costamare”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Euronav	$1.24 billion	N/A	$858.03 million	$5.93	1.77
Costamare	$2.03 billion	0.73	$385.75 million	$3.01	4.19

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

Volatility & Risk

Euronav has a beta of -0.12, indicating that its share price is 112% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costamare has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Euronav pays an annual dividend of $0.53 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Costamare pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Euronav pays out 8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costamare pays out 15.3% 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. Euronav is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.1% of Costamare shares are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of Costamare shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

About Euronav

Euronav NV, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation and storage of crude oil worldwide. The company offers floating, storage, and offloading (FSO) services. It also owns and operates a fleet of vessels. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium. As of March 15, 2024, Euronav NV operates as subsidiary of CMB NV.

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.