Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX) versus Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) Critical Analysis

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Diana Shipping and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Diana Shipping	0	1	0	0	2.00
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Diana Shipping currently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 61.29%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus target price of $44.00, suggesting a potential upside of 106.38%. Given Okeanis Eco Tankers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Okeanis Eco Tankers is more favorable than Diana Shipping.

Dividends

Diana Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.1%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Diana Shipping pays out 1,000.3% 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Diana Shipping 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
Diana Shipping	$262.10 million	0.89	$49.84 million	$0.03	62.02
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$413.10 million	1.66	$145.25 million	$3.63	5.87

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Diana Shipping	5.36%	4.42%	1.89%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	29.25%	27.19%	10.14%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

48.7% of Diana Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers beats Diana Shipping on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Diana Shipping

Diana Shipping Inc. provides shipping transportation services. The company transports a range of dry bulk cargoes, including commodities, such as iron ore, coal, grain, and other materials in shipping routes worldwide. As of March 1, 2024, it operated a fleet of 38 dry bulk vessels, including 4 Newcastlemax, 8 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 6 Kamsarmax, 9 Ultramax, and 6 Panamax. The company was formerly known as Diana Shipping Investments Corp. and changed its name to Diana Shipping Inc. in February 2005. Diana Shipping Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Athens, 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.