Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP – Get Free Report) and Toro (NASDAQ:TORO – Get Free Report) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Toro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Martin Midstream Partners | -2.06% | N/A | -2.67% |
| Toro | 28.15% | 2.96% | 1.70% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.7% of Toro shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are held by 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.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Martin Midstream Partners | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Toro | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Martin Midstream Partners presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.19%. Given Martin Midstream Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Martin Midstream Partners is more favorable than Toro.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Toro”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Martin Midstream Partners | $716.11 million | 0.14 | -$14.74 million | ($0.37) | -6.92 |
| Toro | $21.08 million | 6.79 | $5.93 million | $0.08 | 83.38 |
Toro has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Martin Midstream Partners. Martin Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Toro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Toro has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Toro beats Martin Midstream Partners on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Martin Midstream Partners
Martin Midstream Partners L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides terminalling, processing, storage, and packaging services for petroleum products and by-products primarily in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Terminalling and Storage, Transportation, Sulfur Services, and Specialty Products. The company's Terminalling and Storage segment owns or operates various marine shore-based terminal facilities and specialty terminal facilities that provide storage, refining, blending, packaging, and handling services for producers and suppliers of petroleum products and by-products. This segment also offers land rental services to oil and gas companies, as well as storage and handling services for lubricants and fuels. Its Transportation segment operates various trucks and tank trailers; and inland marine tank barges, inland push boats, and articulated offshore tug and barge unit to transport petroleum products and by-products, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The company's Sulfur Services segment processes molten sulfur into prilled or pelletized sulfur, which is used in the production of fertilizers and industrial chemicals. Its Specialty Products segment stores, distributes, and transports natural gas liquids for wholesale deliveries to refineries, industrial natural gas liquid users, and propane retailers. Martin Midstream GP LLC serves as a general partner of the company. Martin Midstream Partners L.P. was incorporated in 2002 and is based in Kilgore, Texas.
About Toro
Toro Corp., a shipping company, acquires, owns, charters, and operates oceangoing tanker vessels and provides seaborne transportation services for crude oil LPG, and refined petroleum products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Aframax/LR2 Tanker, Handysize Tanker, and LPG Carrier. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of one Handysize tanker vessel; one Aframax/LR2 vessel; and four LPG carrier vessels with an aggregate cargo carrying capacity of 0.1 million deadweight ton. Toro Corp. was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.
Receive News & Ratings for Martin Midstream Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Martin Midstream Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
