Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) vs. Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) Head-To-Head Analysis

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) and Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Star Bulk Carriers and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Star Bulk Carriers	0	2	2	0	2.50
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Star Bulk Carriers presently has a consensus target price of $23.80, indicating a potential upside of 62.13%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 69.42%. Given Okeanis Eco Tankers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Okeanis Eco Tankers is more favorable than Star Bulk Carriers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

33.9% of Star Bulk Carriers shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Star Bulk Carriers shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Star Bulk Carriers and Okeanis Eco Tankers”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Star Bulk Carriers	$1.22 billion	1.01	$173.56 million	$2.96	4.96
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$399.71 million	1.90	$145.25 million	$3.63	6.50

Star Bulk Carriers has higher revenue and earnings than Okeanis Eco Tankers. Star Bulk Carriers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Okeanis Eco Tankers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Star Bulk Carriers and Okeanis Eco Tankers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Star Bulk Carriers	24.75%	14.82%	8.54%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	29.25%	27.19%	10.14%

Dividends

Star Bulk Carriers pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.3%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Star Bulk Carriers pays out 81.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 48.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers beats Star Bulk Carriers on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Star Bulk Carriers

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a shipping company, engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. Its vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of 116 dry bulk vessels with combined carrying capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) consisting of Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels with carrying capacities between 53,489 dwt and 209,537 dwt. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Marousi, Greece.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp., a shipping company, owns and operates tanker vessels worldwide. It operates a fleet of 14 tanker vessels comprising six modern Suezmax tankers and eight modern VLCC tankers focusing on the transportation of crude oil. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is based in Neo Faliro, Greece.