Analyzing Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) and Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX)

Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) and Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Safe Bulkers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Odyssey Marine Exploration	$241,219.00	224.37	-$43.08 million	($1.17)	-0.79
Safe Bulkers	$275.74 million	2.46	$38.56 million	$0.30	22.12

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

50.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Odyssey Marine Exploration and Safe Bulkers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Odyssey Marine Exploration	1	0	0	0	1.00
Safe Bulkers	0	2	1	0	2.33

Safe Bulkers has a consensus target price of $6.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.57%. Given Safe Bulkers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Safe Bulkers is more favorable than Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Risk and Volatility

Odyssey Marine Exploration has a beta of -0.24, meaning that its share price is 124% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safe Bulkers has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Safe Bulkers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Odyssey Marine Exploration	-18,586.78%	N/A	-283.21%
Safe Bulkers	13.99%	4.91%	2.91%

Summary

Safe Bulkers beats Odyssey Marine Exploration on 12 of the 14 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 Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons. Its fleet consists of 10 Panamax class vessels, 11 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 post-Panamax class vessels, and 8 Capesize class vessels. Safe Bulkers, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Monaco.