Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) vs. KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) Critical Analysis

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) and Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

KNOT Offshore Partners has a beta of -0.05, suggesting that its stock price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Okeanis Eco Tankers has a beta of -0.07, suggesting that its stock price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.8% of KNOT Offshore Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

KNOT Offshore Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays an annual dividend of $8.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 13.9%. KNOT Offshore Partners pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Okeanis Eco Tankers pays out 141.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KNOT Offshore Partners	4.92%	6.36%	2.05%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	41.26%	37.13%	16.69%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for KNOT Offshore Partners and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KNOT Offshore Partners	1	2	1	1	2.40
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	5	2	0	2.29

KNOT Offshore Partners currently has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.66%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus target price of $51.89, suggesting a potential downside of 9.83%. Given KNOT Offshore Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe KNOT Offshore Partners is more favorable than Okeanis Eco Tankers.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Okeanis Eco Tankers”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KNOT Offshore Partners	$364.44 million	0.99	$22.96 million	$0.54	19.84
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$391.55 million	5.74	$122.95 million	$5.66	10.17

Okeanis Eco Tankers has higher revenue and earnings than KNOT Offshore Partners. Okeanis Eco Tankers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than KNOT Offshore Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers beats KNOT Offshore Partners on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP acquires, owns, and operates shuttle tankers under long-term charters in the North Sea and Brazil. The company provides loading, transportation, and discharge of crude oil under time charters and bareboat charters. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Aberdeen, 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.