Critical Comparison: Navigator (NVGS) & The Competition

Navigator (NYSE:NVGS) is one of 1,051 public companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Navigator to related businesses based on the strength of its dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Navigator and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Navigator	0	1	3	0	2.75
Navigator Competitors	5982	26994	40850	2423	2.52

Navigator currently has a consensus price target of $27.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.37%. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 28.96%. Given Navigator’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Navigator is more favorable than its competitors.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.0% of Navigator shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Navigator shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.3% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Navigator has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Navigator’s competitors have a beta of -3.76, suggesting that their average share price is 476% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Navigator pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Navigator pays out 10.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.2% and pay out -133.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Navigator has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Navigator lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Navigator and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Navigator	30.06%	10.43%	5.83%
Navigator Competitors	-456.96%	19.46%	6.50%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Navigator and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Navigator	$616.42 million	$100.12 million	6.73
Navigator Competitors	$14.81 billion	$5.51 billion	-0.95

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

Summary

Navigator competitors beat Navigator on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

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.