Critical Review: Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) versus Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK)

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) and Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Costamare and Genco Shipping & Trading’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costamare	39.40%	14.29%	7.99%
Genco Shipping & Trading	9.15%	6.46%	4.83%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Costamare and Genco Shipping & Trading, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costamare	0	2	0	1	2.67
Genco Shipping & Trading	1	2	2	0	2.20

Genco Shipping & Trading has a consensus target price of $29.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.30%. Given Genco Shipping & Trading’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Genco Shipping & Trading is more favorable than Costamare.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Costamare and Genco Shipping & Trading”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Costamare	$852.60 million	1.86	$364.58 million	$2.59	5.07
Genco Shipping & Trading	$440.69 million	2.45	-$4.37 million	$0.91	27.17

Costamare has higher revenue and earnings than Genco Shipping & Trading. Costamare is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Genco Shipping & Trading, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Costamare has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Genco Shipping & Trading has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Costamare pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Genco Shipping & Trading pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.9%. Costamare pays out 19.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Genco Shipping & Trading pays out 351.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.1% of Costamare shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of Genco Shipping & Trading shares are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of Costamare shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Genco Shipping & Trading shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Costamare beats Genco Shipping & Trading on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Costamare

Costamare Inc. owns and operates containerships and dry bulk vessels that are chartered to liner companies providing transportation of cargoes worldwide. As of March 19, 2024, it had a fleet of fleet of 68 containerships and 37 dry bulk vessels. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Monaco.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. is an international ship owning company, which engages in the transportation of iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It operates through the Major Bulk and Minor Bulk segments. The Major Bulk segment focuses on Capesize vessels. The Minor Bulk segment consists of Ultramax and Supramax vessels. The company was founded on September 27, 2004 and is headquartered in New York, NY.