Head to Head Review: Himalaya Shipping (NYSE:HSHP) versus Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB)

Himalaya Shipping (NYSE:HSHP) and Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.3% of Himalaya Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are held by institutional investors. 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Himalaya Shipping has a beta of 2.63, suggesting that its stock price is 163% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safe Bulkers has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Himalaya Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Safe Bulkers pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Safe Bulkers pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Himalaya Shipping and Safe Bulkers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Himalaya Shipping	N/A	N/A	N/A
Safe Bulkers	31.11%	10.78%	6.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Himalaya Shipping and Safe Bulkers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Himalaya Shipping	1	0	0	0	1.00
Safe Bulkers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Safe Bulkers has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 39.53%. Given Safe Bulkers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Safe Bulkers is more favorable than Himalaya Shipping.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Himalaya Shipping and Safe Bulkers”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Himalaya Shipping	$36.74 million	7.70	$1.51 million	N/A	N/A
Safe Bulkers	$284.40 million	1.61	$77.35 million	$0.80	5.38

Safe Bulkers has higher revenue and earnings than Himalaya Shipping.

Summary

Safe Bulkers beats Himalaya Shipping on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Himalaya Shipping

Himalaya Shipping Ltd. provides dry bulk shipping services worldwide. The company operates a fleet of vessels. It serves major commodity trading, commodity and energy transition, and multi-modal transport companies. Himalaya Shipping Ltd. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons. Its fleet consists of 10 Panamax class vessels, 11 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 post-Panamax class vessels, and 8 Capesize class vessels. Safe Bulkers, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Monaco.