Imperial Petroleum (NASDAQ:IMPP) vs. Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) Head-To-Head Contrast

Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) and Imperial Petroleum (NASDAQ:IMPP) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Navios Maritime Partners and Imperial Petroleum’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Navios Maritime Partners	27.53%	11.64%	6.36%
Imperial Petroleum	34.01%	17.50%	12.89%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Navios Maritime Partners and Imperial Petroleum, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Navios Maritime Partners	0	0	1	0	3.00
Imperial Petroleum	0	0	0	0	0.00

Navios Maritime Partners currently has a consensus price target of $80.00, indicating a potential upside of 101.83%. Given Navios Maritime Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Navios Maritime Partners is more favorable than Imperial Petroleum.

Volatility & Risk

Navios Maritime Partners has a beta of 1.93, suggesting that its share price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Imperial Petroleum has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

62.7% of Navios Maritime Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.4% of Imperial Petroleum shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Imperial Petroleum shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Navios Maritime Partners and Imperial Petroleum”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Navios Maritime Partners	$1.33 billion	0.89	$367.31 million	$11.99	3.31
Imperial Petroleum	$147.48 million	0.50	$50.16 million	$1.43	1.71

Navios Maritime Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Imperial Petroleum. Imperial Petroleum is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Navios Maritime Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Navios Maritime Partners beats Imperial Petroleum on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Navios Maritime Partners

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters. Navios Maritime Partners L.P. was founded in 2007 and is based in Monaco.

About Imperial Petroleum

Imperial Petroleum Inc. provides international seaborne transportation services to oil producers, refineries, and commodities traders. It carries refined petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and jet fuel, as well as edible oils and chemicals, crude oils, iron ore, coal and grains, and minor bulks, such as bauxite, phosphate, and fertilizers. As of April 1, 2024, the company owned and operated a fleet of six medium range refined petroleum product tankers; one Aframax tanker; two suezmax tankers; and two handysize drybulk carriers with a total capacity of 791,000 deadweight tons. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Athens, Greece.