Analyzing Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) and Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP)

Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) and Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Martin Midstream Partners and Genco Shipping & Trading, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Martin Midstream Partners	1	1	0	0	1.50
Genco Shipping & Trading	0	3	2	0	2.40

Martin Midstream Partners currently has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 32.74%. Genco Shipping & Trading has a consensus price target of $23.67, indicating a potential downside of 2.81%. Given Martin Midstream Partners’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Martin Midstream Partners is more favorable than Genco Shipping & Trading.

Dividends

Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Genco Shipping & Trading pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Genco Shipping & Trading pays out 368.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of Genco Shipping & Trading shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Genco Shipping & Trading shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Genco Shipping & Trading’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Martin Midstream Partners	-2.88%	N/A	-3.93%
Genco Shipping & Trading	4.38%	2.49%	1.95%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Genco Shipping & Trading”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Martin Midstream Partners	$716.11 million	0.12	-$14.74 million	($0.51)	-4.43
Genco Shipping & Trading	$342.05 million	3.10	-$4.37 million	$0.38	64.08

Genco Shipping & Trading has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Martin Midstream Partners. Martin Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Genco Shipping & Trading, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Genco Shipping & Trading has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Genco Shipping & Trading beats Martin Midstream Partners on 12 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Martin Midstream Partners

Martin Midstream Partners L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides terminalling, processing, storage, and packaging services for petroleum products and by-products primarily in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Terminalling and Storage, Transportation, Sulfur Services, and Specialty Products. The company's Terminalling and Storage segment owns or operates various marine shore-based terminal facilities and specialty terminal facilities that provide storage, refining, blending, packaging, and handling services for producers and suppliers of petroleum products and by-products. This segment also offers land rental services to oil and gas companies, as well as storage and handling services for lubricants and fuels. Its Transportation segment operates various trucks and tank trailers; and inland marine tank barges, inland push boats, and articulated offshore tug and barge unit to transport petroleum products and by-products, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The company's Sulfur Services segment processes molten sulfur into prilled or pelletized sulfur, which is used in the production of fertilizers and industrial chemicals. Its Specialty Products segment stores, distributes, and transports natural gas liquids for wholesale deliveries to refineries, industrial natural gas liquid users, and propane retailers. Martin Midstream GP LLC serves as a general partner of the company. Martin Midstream Partners L.P. was incorporated in 2002 and is based in Kilgore, Texas.

About Genco Shipping & Trading

Genco Shipping & Trading Ltd. is an international ship owning company, which engages in the transportation of iron ore, coal, grain, bauxite, steel products, and other drybulk cargoes. It operates through the Major Bulk and Minor Bulk segments. The Major Bulk segment focuses on Capesize vessels. The Minor Bulk segment consists of Ultramax and Supramax vessels. The company was founded on September 27, 2004 and is headquartered in New York, NY.