Reviewing Matson (NYSE:MATX) and Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK)

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.9% of Star Bulk Carriers shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Matson has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Star Bulk Carriers has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Matson and Star Bulk Carriers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	13.41%	16.94%	10.01%
Star Bulk Carriers	23.87%	11.72%	7.61%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Matson and Star Bulk Carriers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.91	$444.80 million	$14.96	14.31
Star Bulk Carriers	$1.04 billion	3.03	$84.17 million	$2.55	10.91

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

Dividends

Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Star Bulk Carriers pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.2%. Matson pays out 10.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Star Bulk Carriers pays out 78.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Matson has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Matson and Star Bulk Carriers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0	0	4	1	3.20
Star Bulk Carriers	0	2	2	0	2.50

Matson currently has a consensus price target of $232.33, indicating a potential upside of 8.49%. Star Bulk Carriers has a consensus price target of $31.50, indicating a potential upside of 13.27%. Given Star Bulk Carriers’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Star Bulk Carriers is more favorable than Matson.

Summary

Matson beats Star Bulk Carriers on 14 of the 18 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 Star Bulk Carriers

Star Bulk Carriers Corp., a shipping company, engages in the ocean transportation of dry bulk cargoes worldwide. Its vessels transport a range of bulk commodities, including iron ores, minerals and grains, bauxite, fertilizers, and steel products. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned a fleet of 116 dry bulk vessels with combined carrying capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tonnage (dwt) consisting of Newcastlemax, Capesize, Post Panamax, Kamsarmax, Panamax, Ultramax, and Supramax vessels with carrying capacities between 53,489 dwt and 209,537 dwt. Star Bulk Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Marousi, Greece.