KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) & Frontline (NYSE:FRO) Head-To-Head Survey

KNOT Offshore Partners (NYSE:KNOP) and Frontline (NYSE:FRO) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for KNOT Offshore Partners and Frontline, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KNOT Offshore Partners	0	5	0	0	2.00
Frontline	1	1	4	0	2.50

Frontline has a consensus target price of $25.87, indicating a potential downside of 16.26%. Given Frontline’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Frontline is more favorable than KNOT Offshore Partners.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.8% of KNOT Offshore Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.7% of Frontline shares are owned by institutional investors. 48.1% of Frontline shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

KNOT Offshore Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Frontline pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. KNOT Offshore Partners pays out 6.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Frontline pays out 77.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Frontline”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
KNOT Offshore Partners	$318.60 million	N/A	$13.93 million	$1.55	6.67
Frontline	$2.16 billion	3.18	$495.58 million	$0.98	31.53

Frontline has higher revenue and earnings than KNOT Offshore Partners. KNOT Offshore Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Frontline, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares KNOT Offshore Partners and Frontline’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KNOT Offshore Partners	14.69%	9.00%	2.93%
Frontline	12.23%	8.89%	3.44%

Risk and Volatility

KNOT Offshore Partners has a beta of -0.12, suggesting that its share price is 112% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Frontline has a beta of 0.07, suggesting that its share price is 93% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Frontline beats KNOT Offshore Partners on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About KNOT Offshore Partners

KNOT Offshore Partners LP acquires, owns, and operates shuttle tankers under long-term charters in the North Sea and Brazil. The company provides loading, transportation, and discharge of crude oil under time charters and bareboat charters. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Aberdeen, the United Kingdom.

About Frontline

Frontline plc, a shipping company, engages in the seaborne transportation of crude oil and oil products worldwide. It owns and operates oil and product tankers. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a fleet of 70 vessels. It is also involved in the charter, purchase, and sale of vessels. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.