Head to Head Comparison: Cadeler A/S (NYSE:CDLR) vs. Kirby (NYSE:KEX)

Cadeler A/S (NYSE:CDLR) and Kirby (NYSE:KEX) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Cadeler A/S has a beta of 0.26, indicating that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kirby has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cadeler A/S and Kirby”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cadeler A/S	$269.19 million	7.05	$70.41 million	$2.98	7.26
Kirby	$3.27 billion	1.42	$286.71 million	$5.29	15.68

Kirby has higher revenue and earnings than Cadeler A/S. Cadeler A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kirby, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cadeler A/S and Kirby, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cadeler A/S	0	1	0	0	2.00
Kirby	0	3	3	0	2.50

Kirby has a consensus target price of $114.50, suggesting a potential upside of 38.04%. Given Kirby’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kirby is more favorable than Cadeler A/S.

Profitability

This table compares Cadeler A/S and Kirby’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cadeler A/S	50.69%	19.18%	10.58%
Kirby	9.25%	10.02%	5.63%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.0% of Cadeler A/S shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Kirby shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Kirby shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Kirby beats Cadeler A/S on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cadeler A/S

Cadeler A/S operates as an offshore wind farm transportation and installation contractor in Denmark. It also provides wind farm construction, maintenance, decommissioning, and other tasks within the offshore industry, as well as marine and engineering services. The company owns and operates four offshore jack-up windfarm installation vessels. Cadeler A/S was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

About Kirby

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transports petrochemicals, black oils, refined petroleum products, and agricultural chemicals by tank barges; and operates offshore dry-bulk barges and tugboat units that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargos in the United States coastal trade. It owns and operates 1,076 inland tank barges, approximately 281 inland towboats, 28 coastal tank barges, 25 coastal tugboats, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barges, 4 offshore tugboats, and a docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement parts for engines, transmissions, reduction gears, electric motors, drives, and controls, electrical distribution and control systems, energy storage battery systems, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuilds component parts or diesel engines, transmissions and reduction gears, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generators, industrial compressors, high capacity lift trucks, and refrigeration trailers; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems. It serves to various companies, the United States government, and pleasure crafts. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.