Comparing TORM (NASDAQ:TRMD) and Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for TORM and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TORM	0	1	2	0	2.67
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

TORM currently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 108.33%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 63.80%. Given TORM’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe TORM is more favorable than Okeanis Eco Tankers.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TORM	43.81%	34.45%	20.31%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	29.25%	27.19%	10.14%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.9% of TORM shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of TORM shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

TORM pays an annual dividend of $3.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 18.2%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. TORM pays out 45.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 48.5% 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. TORM is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TORM 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
TORM	$1.52 billion	1.19	$648.27 million	$7.73	2.48
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$413.10 million	1.90	$145.25 million	$3.63	6.73

TORM has higher revenue and earnings than Okeanis Eco Tankers. TORM 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.

Summary

TORM beats Okeanis Eco Tankers on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TORM

TORM plc, a shipping company, owns and operates a fleet of product tankers in the United Kingdom. It operates in two operating segments, Tanker and Marine Exhaust. The Tanker segment transports refined oil products, such as gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, naphtha, and gas oil, as well as dirty petroleum products, including fuel oil. The Marine Exhaust segment engages in developing and producing advanced and green marine equipment. TORM plc was founded in 1889 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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.