Contrasting Euronav (NYSE:CMBT) & Costamare (NYSE:CMRE)

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) and Euronav (NYSE:CMBT) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Costamare and Euronav, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costamare	0	2	0	0	2.00
Euronav	0	0	0	0	0.00

Costamare currently has a consensus target price of $13.50, suggesting a potential upside of 6.97%. Given Costamare’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Costamare is more favorable than Euronav.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

58.1% of Costamare shares are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of Costamare shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Costamare pays an annual dividend of $0.46 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Euronav pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.9%. Costamare pays out 15.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Euronav pays out 8.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Euronav is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Costamare and Euronav’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costamare	19.11%	14.28%	6.74%
Euronav	117.02%	22.29%	10.17%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Costamare and Euronav”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Costamare	$2.03 billion	0.73	$385.75 million	$3.01	4.19
Euronav	$982.85 million	2.11	$858.03 million	$5.93	1.80

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

Risk & Volatility

Costamare has a beta of 1.33, indicating that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Euronav has a beta of -0.11, indicating that its share price is 111% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Euronav beats Costamare on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Costamare

Costamare Inc. owns and operates containerships and dry bulk vessels that are chartered to liner companies providing transportation of cargoes worldwide. As of March 19, 2024, it had a fleet of fleet of 68 containerships and 37 dry bulk vessels. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Monaco.

About Euronav

Euronav NV, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the transportation and storage of crude oil worldwide. The company offers floating, storage, and offloading (FSO) services. It also owns and operates a fleet of vessels. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium. As of March 15, 2024, Euronav NV operates as subsidiary of CMB NV.