Icon Energy (NASDAQ:ICON) versus Danaos (NYSE:DAC) Head-To-Head Contrast

Icon Energy (NASDAQ:ICON) and Danaos (NYSE:DAC) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.0% of Danaos shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.7% of Icon Energy shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 41.0% of Danaos shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Icon Energy has a beta of 5.39, indicating that its stock price is 439% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Danaos has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Icon Energy and Danaos, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Icon Energy	0	0	0	0	0.00
Danaos	0	1	2	1	3.00

Danaos has a consensus price target of $105.00, indicating a potential downside of 19.68%. Given Danaos’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Danaos is more favorable than Icon Energy.

Dividends

Icon Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 26.1%. Danaos pays an annual dividend of $3.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Icon Energy pays out -1.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Danaos pays out 12.7% 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. Danaos has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Icon Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Icon Energy and Danaos’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Icon Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A
Danaos	49.85%	13.18%	10.23%

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Icon Energy	$11.26 million	0.08	-$4.20 million	($23.65)	-0.06
Danaos	$1.04 billion	2.28	$494.61 million	$28.35	4.61

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

Summary

Danaos beats Icon Energy on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Icon Energy

Iconix Brand Group, Inc. is a brand management company. As of December 31, 2016, the Company owned a portfolio of over 30 global consumer brands across women’s, men’s, and home categories. The Company operates through segments: men’s, women’s, home and international. The Company’s brand portfolio includes brands, such as Candie’s, Bongo, Joe Boxer, Rampage, Mudd, London Fog, Mossimo, Ocean Pacific/OP, Danskin/Danskin Now, Rocawear/Roc Nation, Cannon, Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest, Charisma, Starter, Waverly, Ecko Unltd/Mark Ecko Cut & Sew, Zoo York, Umbro, Lee Cooper and Artful Dodger, and interests in Material Girl, Ed Hardy, Truth or Dare, Modern Amusement, Buffalo, Nick Graham Hydraulic and PONY brands. It operates in various geographic regions, including the United States, Japan and Other (which principally represent Latin America and Europe).

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.