Head to Head Analysis: Marine Petroleum Trust (MARPS) and The Competition

Marine Petroleum Trust (NASDAQ:MARPS) is one of 1,051 public companies in the “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Marine Petroleum Trust to related businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, dividends and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Marine Petroleum Trust has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marine Petroleum Trust’s competitors have a beta of -3.75, suggesting that their average share price is 475% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Marine Petroleum Trust and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marine Petroleum Trust	$990,000.00	$660,000.00	12.38
Marine Petroleum Trust Competitors	$11.66 billion	$5.51 billion	-1.07

Marine Petroleum Trust’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Marine Petroleum Trust. Marine Petroleum Trust is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Marine Petroleum Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.0%. Marine Petroleum Trust pays out 111.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.1% and pay out -133.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Marine Petroleum Trust lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Marine Petroleum Trust and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marine Petroleum Trust	67.00%	69.15%	69.15%
Marine Petroleum Trust Competitors	-455.90%	20.13%	6.34%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.8% of Marine Petroleum Trust shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.7% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by institutional investors. 15.5% of shares of all “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Marine Petroleum Trust and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marine Petroleum Trust	0	1	0	0	2.00
Marine Petroleum Trust Competitors	5982	26994	40850	2423	2.52

As a group, “Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels” companies have a potential upside of 28.82%. Given Marine Petroleum Trust’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Marine Petroleum Trust has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Marine Petroleum Trust competitors beat Marine Petroleum Trust on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Marine Petroleum Trust Company Profile

Marine Petroleum Trust, together with its subsidiary, Marine Petroleum Corporation, operates as a royalty trust in the United States. It has overriding royalty interest in oil and natural gas leases in the Central and Western areas of the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. Marine Petroleum Trust was founded in 1956 and is based in Dallas, Texas.