Kirby (NYSE:KEX) versus Danaos (NYSE:DAC) Financial Analysis

Danaos (NYSE:DAC) and Kirby (NYSE:KEX) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.0% of Danaos shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Kirby shares are held by institutional investors. 41.0% of Danaos shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Kirby shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Danaos and Kirby, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Danaos	0	0	0	3	4.00
Kirby	0	1	8	0	2.89

Kirby has a consensus target price of $171.43, indicating a potential upside of 21.50%. Given Kirby’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kirby is more favorable than Danaos.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Danaos and Kirby”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Danaos	$1.04 billion	2.67	$494.61 million	$29.55	5.18
Kirby	$3.36 billion	2.21	$354.57 million	$6.94	20.33

Danaos has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Kirby. Danaos is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kirby, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Danaos and Kirby’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Danaos	51.26%	13.20%	10.08%
Kirby	10.39%	10.94%	6.11%

Risk and Volatility

Danaos has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kirby has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Danaos beats Kirby on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Danaos

Danaos Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides container and drybulk vessels services in Australia, Asia, and Europe. The company offers seaborne transportation services by operating vessels in the containership and drybulk sectors of the shipping industry. As of April 03, 2024, it had a fleet of 68 containerships aggregating 421,293 twenty-foot equivalent units in capacity. The company was formerly known as Danaos Holdings Limited and changed its name to Danaos Corporation in October 2005. Danaos Corporation was founded in 1963 and is based in Piraeus, Greece.

About Kirby

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transports petrochemicals, black oils, refined petroleum products, and agricultural chemicals by tank barges; and operates offshore dry-bulk barges and tugboat units that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargos in the United States coastal trade. It owns and operates 1,076 inland tank barges, approximately 281 inland towboats, 28 coastal tank barges, 25 coastal tugboats, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barges, 4 offshore tugboats, and a docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement parts for engines, transmissions, reduction gears, electric motors, drives, and controls, electrical distribution and control systems, energy storage battery systems, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuilds component parts or diesel engines, transmissions and reduction gears, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generators, industrial compressors, high capacity lift trucks, and refrigeration trailers; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems. It serves to various companies, the United States government, and pleasure crafts. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.