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

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 companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent 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 presently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 62.75%. Ardmore Shipping has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 71.60%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ardmore Shipping is more favorable than Okeanis Eco Tankers.

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%

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.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$399.71 million	1.98	$145.25 million	$3.63	6.77
Ardmore Shipping	$422.62 million	1.15	$116.81 million	$3.57	3.26

Okeanis Eco Tankers has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

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

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.