Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) and Marine Petroleum Trust (NASDAQ:MARPS) Head-To-Head Review

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) and Marine Petroleum Trust (NASDAQ:MARPS) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.0% of Navigator shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.8% of Marine Petroleum Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Navigator and Marine Petroleum Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Navigator	0	1	4	0	2.80
Marine Petroleum Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00

Navigator presently has a consensus target price of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.67%. Given Navigator’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Navigator is more favorable than Marine Petroleum Trust.

Risk and Volatility

Navigator has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marine Petroleum Trust has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Navigator pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Marine Petroleum Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. Navigator pays out 12.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marine Petroleum Trust pays out 111.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Navigator has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Navigator and Marine Petroleum Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Navigator	$614.47 million	2.14	$100.12 million	$2.17	9.84
Marine Petroleum Trust	$990,000.00	8.78	$660,000.00	$0.34	12.78

Navigator has higher revenue and earnings than Marine Petroleum Trust. Navigator is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Marine Petroleum Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Navigator and Marine Petroleum Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Navigator	22.80%	10.45%	5.73%
Marine Petroleum Trust	67.00%	69.15%	69.15%

Summary

Navigator beats Marine Petroleum Trust on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Navigator

Navigator Holdings Ltd. engages in owning and operating a fleet of liquefied gas carriers worldwide. It provides international and regional seaborne transportation services of petrochemical gases, liquefied petroleum gases, and ammonia for energy companies, industrial users, and commodity traders. The company also offers ship shore infrastructure and consultancy services. It operates a fleet of 56 semi- or fully-refrigerated liquefied gas carriers. The company was formerly known as Isle of Man public limited company and changed its name to Navigator Holdings Ltd. in 2006. Navigator Holdings Ltd. was incorporated in 1997 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

About Marine Petroleum Trust

Marine Petroleum Trust, together with its subsidiary, Marine Petroleum Corporation, operates as a royalty trust in the United States. It has overriding royalty interest in oil and natural gas leases in the Central and Western areas of the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. Marine Petroleum Trust was founded in 1956 and is based in Dallas, Texas.