Head to Head Review: Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK) and Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK)

Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK) and Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Teekay Tankers and Star Bulk Carriers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Teekay Tankers	0	0	3	2	3.40
Star Bulk Carriers	0	2	1	0	2.33

Teekay Tankers presently has a consensus target price of $65.00, indicating a potential upside of 27.46%. Star Bulk Carriers has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.00%. Given Teekay Tankers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Teekay Tankers is more favorable than Star Bulk Carriers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

52.7% of Teekay Tankers shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.9% of Star Bulk Carriers shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Teekay Tankers shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Star Bulk Carriers shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Teekay Tankers and Star Bulk Carriers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Teekay Tankers	32.87%	10.63%	9.58%
Star Bulk Carriers	5.85%	2.66%	1.64%

Volatility & Risk

Teekay Tankers has a beta of -0.24, suggesting that its stock price is 124% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Star Bulk Carriers has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Teekay Tankers pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Star Bulk Carriers pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Teekay Tankers pays out 11.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Star Bulk Carriers pays out 84.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Teekay Tankers has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Teekay Tankers and Star Bulk Carriers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Teekay Tankers	$1.23 billion	1.43	$403.67 million	$9.00	5.67
Star Bulk Carriers	$1.27 billion	1.78	$304.65 million	$0.52	36.79

Teekay Tankers has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Star Bulk Carriers. Teekay Tankers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Star Bulk Carriers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Teekay Tankers beats Star Bulk Carriers on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Teekay Tankers

Teekay Tankers Ltd. provides crude oil and other marine transportation services to oil industries in Bermuda and internationally. The company offers voyage and time charter services; offshore ship-to-ship transfer services of commodities primarily crude oil and refined oil products; and tanker commercial and technical management services. It also engages management of vessels, procurement, and equipment rental businesses. Teekay Tankers Ltd. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About Star Bulk Carriers

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a shipping company, engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. Its vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of 116 dry bulk vessels with combined carrying capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) consisting of Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels with carrying capacities between 53,489 dwt and 209,537 dwt. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Marousi, Greece.