Head to Head Survey: SEACOR Marine (NYSE:SMHI) vs. Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT)

Nordic American Tankers (NYSE:NAT) and SEACOR Marine (NYSE:SMHI) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Nordic American Tankers has a beta of -0.57, indicating that its share price is 157% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SEACOR Marine has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Nordic American Tankers and SEACOR Marine, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nordic American Tankers	1	2	0	0	1.67
SEACOR Marine	1	1	1	0	2.00

Nordic American Tankers currently has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential downside of 23.59%. SEACOR Marine has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 31.93%. Given SEACOR Marine’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SEACOR Marine is more favorable than Nordic American Tankers.

Profitability

This table compares Nordic American Tankers and SEACOR Marine’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nordic American Tankers	24.19%	9.16%	4.59%
SEACOR Marine	-13.00%	-12.38%	-4.90%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.3% of Nordic American Tankers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.1% of SEACOR Marine shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of Nordic American Tankers shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.8% of SEACOR Marine shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nordic American Tankers and SEACOR Marine”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nordic American Tankers	$182.54 million	6.07	$12.27 million	$0.27	19.39
SEACOR Marine	$227.83 million	0.90	-$27.84 million	($1.09)	-6.95

Nordic American Tankers has higher earnings, but lower revenue than SEACOR Marine. SEACOR Marine is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nordic American Tankers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Nordic American Tankers

Nordic American Tankers Limited, a tanker company, acquires and charters double-hull tankers in Bermuda and internationally. It operates a fleet of 20 Suezmax crude oil tankers. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About SEACOR Marine

SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. provides marine and support transportation services to offshore oil, natural gas, and windfarm facilities worldwide. Its offshore support and specialty vessels deliver cargo and personnel to offshore installations, including offshore wind farms; handle anchors and mooring equipment for offshore rigs and platforms; assist offshore operations for production and storage facilities; provide construction, well work-over, and offshore wind farm installation and decommissioning support; and carry and launch equipment used underwater in drilling and well installation, maintenance, inspection, and repair, as well as offer accommodations for technicians and specialists, safety support, and emergency response services. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a fleet of 58 support vessels, of which 55 were owned or leased-in, and three were managed on behalf of unaffiliated third parties. It serves integrated national and international oil companies, independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, and oil field service and construction companies, as well as offshore wind farm operators and offshore wind farm installation and maintenance companies. SEACOR Marine Holdings Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.