Head to Head Survey: United Maritime (USEA) versus The Competition

United Maritime (NASDAQ:USEA) is one of 79 publicly-traded companies in the “Marine Transportation” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare United Maritime to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares United Maritime and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Maritime	-5.07%	2.31%	0.86%
United Maritime Competitors	31.60%	14.28%	7.06%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares United Maritime and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
United Maritime	$35.49 million	-$6.19 million	-12.30
United Maritime Competitors	$3.80 billion	$351.16 million	12.71

United Maritime’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than United Maritime. United Maritime is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

1.6% of United Maritime shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of shares of all “Marine Transportation” companies are owned by institutional investors. 28.2% of shares of all “Marine Transportation” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for United Maritime and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Maritime	1	0	0	0	1.00
United Maritime Competitors	447	1646	1704	96	2.37

As a group, “Marine Transportation” companies have a potential upside of 24.79%. Given United Maritime’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe United Maritime has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

United Maritime pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 16.3%. United Maritime pays out -200.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Marine Transportation” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.7% and pay out 27.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. United Maritime is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk and Volatility

United Maritime has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, United Maritime’s competitors have a beta of 1.14, meaning that their average stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

United Maritime competitors beat United Maritime on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

United Maritime Company Profile

United Maritime Corporation (NASDAQ: USEA) is a global shipping company engaged in the ownership and operation of oceangoing vessels. The company primarily provides seaborne transportation services for dry bulk commodities and liquid cargoes through its fleet of dry bulk carriers and tankers. United Maritime’s vessels transport commodities such as grains, coal, and other dry bulk materials, as well as petroleum products and related liquid cargoes. The company generates revenue by employing its vessels under voyage charters, time charters, and other commercial arrangements with customers in international shipping markets.