Head-To-Head Survey: Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) & Cameco (NYSE:CCJ)

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) and Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) are both energy companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Cameco and Ardmore Shipping, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cameco	0	4	12	0	2.75
Ardmore Shipping	0	1	1	0	2.50

Cameco currently has a consensus target price of $148.12, suggesting a potential upside of 99.47%. Ardmore Shipping has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.12%. Given Cameco’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Cameco is more favorable than Ardmore Shipping.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.2% of Cameco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Cameco shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Cameco pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $3.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.3%. Cameco pays out 25.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ardmore Shipping pays out 117.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Cameco has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Cameco and Ardmore Shipping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cameco	11.44%	7.01%	4.84%
Ardmore Shipping	30.11%	15.38%	13.22%

Risk and Volatility

Cameco has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardmore Shipping has a beta of 0.15, indicating that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cameco and Ardmore Shipping”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cameco	$2.49 billion	12.98	$421.96 million	$0.66	112.51
Ardmore Shipping	$310.20 million	2.40	$41.01 million	$2.69	6.81

Cameco has higher revenue and earnings than Ardmore Shipping. Ardmore Shipping is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cameco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cameco beats Ardmore Shipping on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cameco

Cameco is a Canadian uranium company involved in the exploration, mining, milling, refining and conversion of uranium. Its operations include major uranium assets in Saskatchewan, and it has an interest in the Inkai uranium operation in Kazakhstan. The company supplies uranium and related products to nuclear energy producers around the world. Cameco also provides nuclear fuel services, including uranium conversion and the manufacture of fuel bundles for CANDU reactors. In addition, it owns a 49% interest in Westinghouse Electric Company, a supplier of nuclear power plant technologies, services and fuel.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation is an international shipping company that owns and operates product and chemical tankers. Its vessels transport refined petroleum products and chemicals for customers in global seaborne markets. The company’s fleet includes medium-range and smaller tankers designed to carry cargoes such as clean petroleum products and liquid chemicals. Ardmore provides ocean transportation services to energy companies, commodity traders and other shipping customers. Founded in 2010, Ardmore is headquartered in Bermuda and serves international shipping routes.