Reviewing Kirby (NYSE:KEX) & Pacific Basin Shipping (OTCMKTS:PCFBY)

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) and Pacific Basin Shipping (OTCMKTS:PCFBY) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Kirby and Pacific Basin Shipping”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kirby	$3.27 billion	2.09	$286.71 million	$5.39	23.35
Pacific Basin Shipping	$2.58 billion	0.65	$131.70 million	N/A	N/A

Kirby has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Basin Shipping.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kirby and Pacific Basin Shipping, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kirby	0	2	6	0	2.75
Pacific Basin Shipping	0	0	0	0	0.00

Kirby currently has a consensus target price of $128.17, suggesting a potential upside of 1.84%. Given Kirby’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kirby is more favorable than Pacific Basin Shipping.

Profitability

This table compares Kirby and Pacific Basin Shipping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kirby	9.22%	10.05%	5.63%
Pacific Basin Shipping	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.2% of Kirby shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Kirby shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Kirby has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Basin Shipping has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Kirby beats Pacific Basin Shipping on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kirby

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transports petrochemicals, black oils, refined petroleum products, and agricultural chemicals by tank barges; and operates offshore dry-bulk barges and tugboat units that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargos in the United States coastal trade. It owns and operates 1,076 inland tank barges, approximately 281 inland towboats, 28 coastal tank barges, 25 coastal tugboats, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barges, 4 offshore tugboats, and a docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement parts for engines, transmissions, reduction gears, electric motors, drives, and controls, electrical distribution and control systems, energy storage battery systems, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuilds component parts or diesel engines, transmissions and reduction gears, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generators, industrial compressors, high capacity lift trucks, and refrigeration trailers; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems. It serves to various companies, the United States government, and pleasure crafts. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Pacific Basin Shipping

Pacific Basin Shipping Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the provision of dry bulk shipping services worldwide. The company offers its shipping services that mainly carry major and minor bulks, including grains, ores, logs/forest products, bauxite, sugar, concentrates, cement and clinkers, coal/coke, fertilizers, alumina, steel, pet-coke, salt, sand and gypsum, and scrap. It also offers shipping consulting, crewing, secretarial, and ship agency and management services. In addition, the company is involved in the vessel owning and chartering, and convertible bonds issuing activities. It has a fleet of 266 owned and chartered vessels, including 121 Handysize, 1 Capesize, and 144 Supramax/Ultramax vessels. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong.