Critical Analysis: Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) & Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC)

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Okeanis Eco Tankers and Ardmore Shipping, as provided by MarketBeat.

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

Okeanis Eco Tankers currently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 64.47%. Ardmore Shipping has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 72.49%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ardmore Shipping is more favorable than Okeanis Eco Tankers.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$413.10 million	1.90	$145.25 million	$3.63	6.70
Ardmore Shipping	$395.98 million	1.23	$116.81 million	$3.57	3.25

Okeanis Eco Tankers has higher revenue and 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.

Dividends

Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 48.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ardmore Shipping pays out 20.2% 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Okeanis Eco Tankers	29.25%	27.19%	10.14%
Ardmore Shipping	36.22%	23.63%	19.42%

Summary

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

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.

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.