Head to Head Review: CBL International (NASDAQ:BANL) vs. Matson (NYSE:MATX)

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and CBL International (NASDAQ:BANL) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Matson and CBL International, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0	4	2	0	2.33
CBL International	1	0	0	0	1.00

Matson presently has a consensus price target of $156.25, suggesting a potential upside of 4.34%. Given Matson’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Matson is more favorable than CBL International.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of CBL International shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Matson shares are owned 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

Matson has a beta of 1.32, meaning that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CBL International has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Matson and CBL International”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.36	$444.80 million	$13.94	10.74
CBL International	$592.52 million	0.03	-$3.87 million	N/A	N/A

Matson has higher revenue and earnings than CBL International.

Profitability

This table compares Matson and CBL International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	13.30%	16.63%	9.75%
CBL International	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Matson beats CBL International on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

About CBL International

CBL International Limited, a marine fuel logistics company, provides vessel refueling solutions in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore, and internationally. It facilitates vessel refueling between ship operators and local physical distributors/traders by purchasing marine fuel, including both fossil fuel and alternative fuel. The company’s services to its customers include vessel refueling options available at ports; arranges vessel refueling activities and local physical delivery of marine fuel; and coordinates vessel refueling schedule. It also offers trade credit; handles unforeseeable circumstances and provides contingency solutions; fulfills special requests related to vessel refueling; and handles disputes relates to quality and quantity issues on marine fuel. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. CBL International Limited operates as a subsidiary of CBL (Asia) Limited.