United Maritime (NASDAQ:USEA – Get Free Report) and Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC – Get Free Report) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.
Dividends
United Maritime pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 19.8%. Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. United Maritime pays out -72.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ardmore Shipping pays out 51.3% 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. United Maritime is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares United Maritime and Ardmore Shipping”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| United Maritime | $45.44 million | 0.37 | -$3.38 million | ($0.50) | -3.63 |
| Ardmore Shipping | $405.78 million | 1.20 | $133.01 million | $0.78 | 15.35 |
Ardmore Shipping has higher revenue and earnings than United Maritime. United Maritime is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ardmore Shipping, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for United Maritime and Ardmore Shipping, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| United Maritime | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Ardmore Shipping | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2.67 |
Ardmore Shipping has a consensus target price of $13.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.13%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ardmore Shipping is more favorable than United Maritime.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
1.6% of United Maritime shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
United Maritime has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardmore Shipping has a beta of -0.08, meaning that its stock price is 108% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares United Maritime and Ardmore Shipping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| United Maritime | -10.18% | -6.57% | -2.41% |
| Ardmore Shipping | 11.50% | 6.69% | 5.69% |
Summary
Ardmore Shipping beats United Maritime on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.
About United Maritime
United Maritime Corporation, a shipping company, offers seaborne transportation services worldwide. It operates a fleet of eight dry bulk vessels comprising three Panamax, three Capesize, and two Kamsarmax vessels with an aggregate cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 922,054 dwt. The company was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Glyfada, Greece.
About Ardmore Shipping
Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers. Ardmore Shipping Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.
Receive News & Ratings for United Maritime Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for United Maritime and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
