Head to Head Review: Ardmore Shipping (ASC) vs. Its Competitors

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) is one of 1,050 publicly-traded companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Ardmore Shipping to related companies based on the strength of its risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardmore Shipping	29.67%	15.24%	12.72%
Ardmore Shipping Competitors	-472.92%	19.47%	6.31%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ardmore Shipping and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardmore Shipping	$310.20 million	$41.01 million	8.10
Ardmore Shipping Competitors	$10.76 billion	$5.51 billion	0.53

Ardmore Shipping’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Ardmore Shipping. Ardmore Shipping is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

Ardmore Shipping has a beta of 0.11, meaning that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardmore Shipping’s peers have a beta of -4.03, meaning that their average stock price is 503% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Ardmore Shipping and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardmore Shipping	0	0	3	0	3.00
Ardmore Shipping Competitors	5961	26926	40745	2403	2.52

Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus price target of $18.50, indicating a potential downside of 11.78%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 16.92%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ardmore Shipping has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $3.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.1%. Ardmore Shipping pays out 122.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.4% and pay out -119.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by institutional investors. 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ardmore Shipping beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers. Ardmore Shipping Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.