Reviewing Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) and Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP)

Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) and Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Safe Bulkers”s top-line 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	0.12	-$14.74 million	($0.37)	-6.14
Safe Bulkers	$275.74 million	2.24	$38.56 million	$0.30	20.15

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

Dividends

Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Safe Bulkers pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -5.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Safe Bulkers pays out 66.7% 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.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Martin Midstream Partners	-2.06%	N/A	-2.67%
Safe Bulkers	13.99%	4.91%	2.91%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Martin Midstream Partners and Safe Bulkers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Martin Midstream Partners	1	1	0	0	1.50
Safe Bulkers	0	2	1	0	2.33

Martin Midstream Partners presently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.16%. Safe Bulkers has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.74%. Given Martin Midstream Partners’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Martin Midstream Partners is more favorable than Safe Bulkers.

Risk & Volatility

Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safe Bulkers has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Safe Bulkers beats Martin Midstream Partners on 12 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 Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons. Its fleet consists of 10 Panamax class vessels, 11 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 post-Panamax class vessels, and 8 Capesize class vessels. Safe Bulkers, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Monaco.