Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) and Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Financial Survey

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) and Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and Nordic American Tankers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardmore Shipping	13.22%	7.02%	5.86%
Nordic American Tankers	6.39%	2.47%	1.28%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.3% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Nordic American Tankers shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardmore Shipping	$310.20 million	1.97	$41.01 million	$0.89	16.85
Nordic American Tankers	$182.54 million	6.62	$12.27 million	$0.07	81.50

Ardmore Shipping has higher revenue and earnings than Nordic American Tankers. Ardmore Shipping is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nordic American Tankers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Ardmore Shipping has a beta of -0.16, suggesting that its share price is 116% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nordic American Tankers has a beta of -0.5, suggesting that its share price is 150% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Nordic American Tankers pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 11.9%. Ardmore Shipping pays out 40.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nordic American Tankers pays out 971.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Nordic American Tankers has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Nordic American Tankers is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Ardmore Shipping and Nordic American Tankers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardmore Shipping	0	2	2	1	2.80
Nordic American Tankers	0	3	0	0	2.00

Ardmore Shipping presently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 0.03%. Nordic American Tankers has a consensus target price of $3.25, suggesting a potential downside of 43.03%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ardmore Shipping is more favorable than Nordic American Tankers.

Summary

Ardmore Shipping beats Nordic American Tankers on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.