Contrasting Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP) and BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP)

BW LPG (NYSE:BWLP) and Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

29.4% of Seanergy Maritime shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of Seanergy Maritime shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BW LPG and Seanergy Maritime”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BW LPG	$3.56 billion	0.91	$242.31 million	$2.38	8.97
Seanergy Maritime	$158.10 million	2.02	$21.24 million	$1.79	8.53

BW LPG has higher revenue and earnings than Seanergy Maritime. Seanergy Maritime is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BW LPG, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

BW LPG pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.6%. Seanergy Maritime pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.2%. BW LPG pays out 112.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Seanergy Maritime pays out 44.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Risk & Volatility

BW LPG has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seanergy Maritime has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for BW LPG and Seanergy Maritime, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BW LPG	0	2	3	0	2.60
Seanergy Maritime	0	2	2	0	2.50

Seanergy Maritime has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 44.07%. Given Seanergy Maritime’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Seanergy Maritime is more favorable than BW LPG.

Profitability

This table compares BW LPG and Seanergy Maritime’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BW LPG	10.13%	18.51%	10.92%
Seanergy Maritime	20.96%	14.47%	6.55%

Summary

BW LPG beats Seanergy Maritime on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BW LPG

BW LPG Limited, an investment holding company, engages in ship owning and chartering activities worldwide. The company operates through Shipping and Product Services segments. The company involved in the transportation of liquefied petroleum gas to oil companies, and trading and utility companies. It also offers integrated liquified petroleum gas (LPG) delivery services and support; wholesale and trade of LPG; and management services. It owns and operates LPG vessels and a fleet of very large gas carriers. The company was formerly known as BW Gas LPG Holding Limited and changed its name to BW LPG Limited in September 2013. BW LPG Limited was founded in 1935 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Seanergy Maritime

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp., a shipping company, provides seaborne transportation of dry bulk commodities worldwide. It operates a fleet of 16 Capesize dry bulk vessels and one Newcastlemax dry bulk vessel with a cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 3,054,820 dwt. The company was formerly known as Seanergy Merger Corp. and changed its name to Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. in July 2008. Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Glyfada, Greece.