Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN) & Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) Head-To-Head Survey

Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) and Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Odyssey Marine Exploration has a beta of -0.86, meaning that its share price is 186% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tsakos Energy Navigation has a beta of -0.24, meaning that its share price is 124% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Tsakos Energy Navigation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Odyssey Marine Exploration	-6,569.59%	-14.85%	-191.52%
Tsakos Energy Navigation	15.97%	13.36%	6.31%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.2% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are held by institutional investors. 7.1% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Odyssey Marine Exploration and Tsakos Energy Navigation, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Odyssey Marine Exploration	1	0	0	0	1.00
Tsakos Energy Navigation	0	3	1	0	2.25

Tsakos Energy Navigation has a consensus target price of $29.50, suggesting a potential upside of 30.21%. Given Tsakos Energy Navigation’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Tsakos Energy Navigation is more favorable than Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Tsakos Energy Navigation”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Odyssey Marine Exploration	$770,000.00	148.76	$15.66 million	($0.78)	-2.63
Tsakos Energy Navigation	$804.06 million	0.85	$176.23 million	$3.18	7.12

Tsakos Energy Navigation has higher revenue and earnings than Odyssey Marine Exploration. Odyssey Marine Exploration is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tsakos Energy Navigation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Tsakos Energy Navigation beats Odyssey Marine Exploration on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Odyssey Marine Exploration

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, discovers, validates, and develops seafloor mineral resources worldwide. The company provides specialized mineral exploration, project development, and marine services to clients. Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

About Tsakos Energy Navigation

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. engages in the provision of seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services. Its activities include the operation of crude tankers, product tankers, and liquefied natural gas carriers. The company was founded by Nikolas P. Tsakos and Michael Gordon Jolliffee in July 1993 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.