Contrasting Viking (NYSE:VIK) & Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Viking and Nordic American Tankers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viking	0	3	9	0	2.75
Nordic American Tankers	0	2	0	0	2.00

Viking currently has a consensus target price of $37.17, suggesting a potential downside of 5.69%. Nordic American Tankers has a consensus target price of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.04%. Given Nordic American Tankers’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nordic American Tankers is more favorable than Viking.

Profitability

This table compares Viking and Nordic American Tankers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viking	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nordic American Tankers	26.35%	11.60%	7.15%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Viking and Nordic American Tankers”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viking	$4.71 billion	3.61	-$1.86 billion	N/A	N/A
Nordic American Tankers	$364.25 million	2.05	$98.71 million	$0.32	11.16

Nordic American Tankers has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Viking.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.3% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Nordic American Tankers 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 Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.