Head-To-Head Review: Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) & Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC)

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) and Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and Okeanis Eco Tankers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardmore Shipping	32.78%	20.48%	17.25%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	27.68%	25.40%	9.58%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ardmore Shipping and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardmore Shipping	0	2	2	0	2.50
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Ardmore Shipping presently has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 76.89%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus price target of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 81.31%. Given Okeanis Eco Tankers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Okeanis Eco Tankers is more favorable than Ardmore Shipping.

Dividends

Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Ardmore Shipping pays out 10.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 41.4% 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.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and Okeanis Eco Tankers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardmore Shipping	$405.78 million	1.05	$133.01 million	$3.06	3.33
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$399.71 million	1.78	$145.25 million	$3.38	6.53

Okeanis Eco Tankers has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ardmore Shipping. Ardmore Shipping 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.

Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers beats Ardmore Shipping on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.