Critical Contrast: Stolt-Nielsen (OTCMKTS:SOIEF) versus Matson (NYSE:MATX)

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and Stolt-Nielsen (OTCMKTS:SOIEF) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Stolt-Nielsen pays an annual dividend of $0.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Matson pays out 10.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stolt-Nielsen pays out 49.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Matson has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Matson and Stolt-Nielsen, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0	2	3	0	2.60
Stolt-Nielsen	0	0	0	0	0.00

Matson presently has a consensus price target of $203.33, indicating a potential upside of 0.51%. Given Matson’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than Stolt-Nielsen.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Matson and Stolt-Nielsen”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.83	$444.80 million	$13.61	14.86
Stolt-Nielsen	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.77	18.49

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.2% of Stolt-Nielsen shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson shares are owned by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Matson and Stolt-Nielsen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	12.92%	15.90%	9.38%
Stolt-Nielsen	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Matson beats Stolt-Nielsen on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.

About Stolt-Nielsen

Stolt-Nielsen Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides transportation, storage, and distribution solutions for bulk liquid chemicals, edible oils, acids, and other specialty liquids worldwide. It operates through five segments: Tankers, Terminals, Tank Containers, Stolt Sea Farm, and Stolt-Nielsen Gas. The company also produces, processes, and markets seafood, including turbot and sole; and transports, stores, and distributes chemicals, clean petroleum products, liquefied petroleum gases, vegetable oils, biofuels, and oleochemicals, as well as alternative fuels and feedstocks. In addition, it holds investment in logistics, distribution, liquid natural gas (LNG), and land-based aquaculture businesses. The company was founded in 1959 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Stolt-Nielsen Limited is a subsidiary of Fiducia Ltd.