Comparing Matson (NYSE:MATX) & Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK)

Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Dividends

Star Bulk Carriers pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Star Bulk Carriers pays out 78.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Matson pays out 10.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Matson has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Star Bulk Carriers and Matson”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Star Bulk Carriers	$1.04 billion	3.03	$84.17 million	$2.55	10.91
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.91	$444.80 million	$14.96	14.31

Matson has higher revenue and earnings than Star Bulk Carriers. Star Bulk Carriers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Matson, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Star Bulk Carriers and Matson, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Star Bulk Carriers	0	2	2	0	2.50
Matson	0	0	4	1	3.20

Star Bulk Carriers presently has a consensus price target of $31.50, suggesting a potential upside of 13.27%. Matson has a consensus price target of $232.33, suggesting a potential upside of 8.49%. Given Star Bulk Carriers’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Star Bulk Carriers is more favorable than Matson.

Profitability

This table compares Star Bulk Carriers and Matson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Star Bulk Carriers	23.87%	11.72%	7.61%
Matson	13.41%	16.94%	10.01%

Risk and Volatility

Star Bulk Carriers has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matson has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

33.9% of Star Bulk Carriers shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Matson beats Star Bulk Carriers on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Star Bulk Carriers

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a shipping company, engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. Its vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of 116 dry bulk vessels with combined carrying capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) consisting of Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels with carrying capacities between 53,489 dwt and 209,537 dwt. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Marousi, Greece.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.