Matson (NYSE:MATX) & Viking (NYSE:VIK) Head-To-Head Analysis

Viking (NYSE:VIK) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) are both transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Viking and Matson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viking	N/A	N/A	N/A
Matson	10.41%	13.87%	7.77%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are held by institutional investors. 2.3% of Matson 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Viking and Matson”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viking	$4.71 billion	3.55	-$1.86 billion	N/A	N/A
Matson	$3.19 billion	1.46	$297.10 million	$8.48	15.73

Matson has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Viking.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Viking and Matson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viking	0	3	9	0	2.75
Matson	0	1	1	0	2.50

Viking currently has a consensus price target of $37.50, suggesting a potential downside of 3.33%. Matson has a consensus price target of $135.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.60%. Given Matson’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Matson is more favorable than Viking.

Summary

Matson beats Viking on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Viking

Viking Holdings Ltd engages in the passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through River and Ocean segments. The company also operates as a tour entrepreneur for passengers and related activities in tourism. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 92 ships, including 81 river vessels comprising 58 Longships, 10 smaller classes based on the Longship design, 11 other river vessels, and 1 river vessel charter and the Viking Mississippi; 9 ocean ships; and 2 expedition ships. The company was founded in 1997 and is based in Pembroke, Bermuda.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.