Head-To-Head Review: Toro (NASDAQ:TORO) & Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX)

Toro (NASDAQ:TORO) and Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Toro and Diana Shipping, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Toro	0	0	0	0	0.00
Diana Shipping	0	1	0	0	2.00

Diana Shipping has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 39.86%. Given Diana Shipping’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Diana Shipping is more favorable than Toro.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Toro and Diana Shipping”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Toro	$78.47 million	0.65	$140.64 million	$1.06	2.55
Diana Shipping	$262.10 million	1.02	$49.84 million	$0.09	23.84

Toro has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Diana Shipping. Toro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Diana Shipping, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Toro and Diana Shipping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Toro	176.49%	17.16%	10.30%
Diana Shipping	6.81%	5.34%	2.26%

Volatility and Risk

Toro has a beta of 2.03, indicating that its stock price is 103% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diana Shipping has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.7% of Toro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.7% of Diana Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Toro

Toro Corp., a shipping company, acquires, owns, charters, and operates oceangoing tanker vessels and provides seaborne transportation services for crude oil LPG, and refined petroleum products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Aframax/LR2 Tanker, Handysize Tanker, and LPG Carrier. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of one Handysize tanker vessel; one Aframax/LR2 vessel; and four LPG carrier vessels with an aggregate cargo carrying capacity of 0.1 million deadweight ton. Toro Corp. was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.

About Diana Shipping

Diana Shipping Inc. provides shipping transportation services. The company transports a range of dry bulk cargoes, including commodities, such as iron ore, coal, grain, and other materials in shipping routes worldwide. As of March 1, 2024, it operated a fleet of 38 dry bulk vessels, including 4 Newcastlemax, 8 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 6 Kamsarmax, 9 Ultramax, and 6 Panamax. The company was formerly known as Diana Shipping Investments Corp. and changed its name to Diana Shipping Inc. in February 2005. Diana Shipping Inc. was incorporated in 1999 and is based in Athens, Greece.