Reviewing Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) & Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX)

Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) and Diana Shipping (NYSE:DSX) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and dividends.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Odyssey Marine Exploration	174.35%	-14.85%	-6.05%
Diana Shipping	9.36%	4.09%	1.76%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.7% of Diana Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Odyssey Marine Exploration has a beta of -0.85, meaning that its stock price is 185% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Diana Shipping has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Odyssey Marine Exploration and Diana Shipping, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Odyssey Marine Exploration	1	0	0	0	1.00
Diana Shipping	1	0	0	0	1.00

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Diana Shipping”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Odyssey Marine Exploration	$467,122.00	215.38	$15.66 million	($0.78)	-2.31
Diana Shipping	$224.19 million	0.88	$12.75 million	$0.06	28.25

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

Summary

Diana Shipping beats Odyssey Marine Exploration on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Odyssey Marine Exploration

Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, discovers, validates, and develops seafloor mineral resources worldwide. The company provides specialized mineral exploration, project development, and marine services to clients. Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

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.