Analyzing Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) and Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP)

Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) and Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Navios Maritime Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Navios Maritime Partners pays out 2.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Martin Midstream Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of Navios Maritime Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Navios Maritime Partners”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Martin Midstream Partners	$716.11 million	0.15	-$14.74 million	($0.51)	-5.35
Navios Maritime Partners	$1.34 billion	1.52	$285.33 million	$9.61	7.44

Navios Maritime Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Martin Midstream Partners. Martin Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Navios Maritime Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Navios Maritime Partners has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Martin Midstream Partners and Navios Maritime Partners, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Martin Midstream Partners	1	1	0	0	1.50
Navios Maritime Partners	0	0	2	0	3.00

Martin Midstream Partners presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.89%. Navios Maritime Partners has a consensus price target of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.95%. Given Navios Maritime Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Navios Maritime Partners is more favorable than Martin Midstream Partners.

Profitability

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Navios Maritime Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Martin Midstream Partners	-2.88%	N/A	-3.93%
Navios Maritime Partners	21.23%	9.17%	5.04%

Summary

Navios Maritime Partners beats Martin Midstream Partners on 13 of the 16 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 Navios Maritime Partners

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters. Navios Maritime Partners L.P. was founded in 2007 and is based in Monaco.