Head to Head Review: Safe Bulkers (SB) versus The Competition

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) is one of 80 publicly-traded companies in the “Marine Transportation” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Safe Bulkers to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of shares of all “Marine Transportation” companies are owned by institutional investors. 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.1% of shares of all “Marine Transportation” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Safe Bulkers has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safe Bulkers’ peers have a beta of 1.11, suggesting that their average stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Safe Bulkers pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Safe Bulkers pays out 38.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Marine Transportation” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.5% and pay out 26.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Safe Bulkers lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Safe Bulkers and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safe Bulkers	28.29%	9.63%	5.77%
Safe Bulkers Competitors	30.74%	13.51%	6.67%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Safe Bulkers and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safe Bulkers	0	1	1	0	2.50
Safe Bulkers Competitors	447	1655	1701	93	2.37

Safe Bulkers currently has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.18%. As a group, “Marine Transportation” companies have a potential upside of 11.13%. Given Safe Bulkers’ peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Safe Bulkers has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Safe Bulkers and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safe Bulkers	$275.74 million	$38.56 million	9.52
Safe Bulkers Competitors	$3.68 billion	$344.61 million	13.31

Safe Bulkers’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Safe Bulkers. Safe Bulkers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Safe Bulkers peers beat Safe Bulkers on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

About Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons. Its fleet consists of 10 Panamax class vessels, 11 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 post-Panamax class vessels, and 8 Capesize class vessels. Safe Bulkers, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Monaco.