Financial Comparison: Matson (NYSE:MATX) & Keppel (OTCMKTS:KPELY)

Keppel (OTCMKTS:KPELY) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Dividends

Keppel pays an annual dividend of $0.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Matson pays out 10.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Matson has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Keppel and Matson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Keppel	0	1	1	0	2.50
Matson	0	0	4	1	3.20

Matson has a consensus price target of $232.33, suggesting a potential upside of 6.21%. Given Matson’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than Keppel.

Volatility & Risk

Keppel has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matson has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Keppel and Matson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Keppel	N/A	N/A	N/A
Matson	13.41%	16.94%	10.01%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Keppel and Matson”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Keppel	$4.58 billion	3.36	$612.56 million	N/A	N/A
Matson	$3.34 billion	1.96	$444.80 million	$14.96	14.62

Keppel has higher revenue and earnings than Matson.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Matson shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Matson beats Keppel on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Keppel

Keppel Ltd., an investment holding company, engages in the infrastructure, real estate, and connectivity business in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, other far East and ASEAN countries, and internationally. The company operates through, Infrastructure, Real Estate, and Connectivity. It manages private funds and listed real estate investment and business trusts, in areas of infrastructure, real estate, and connectivity; energy and environmental solutions and services, including commercial power generation, renewables, environmental engineering and construction, and infrastructure; operation and maintenance; property development and investment; master development; sustainable and innovative urban space solutions; and system integration solutions and services. The company develops and operates data centres; telecommunication services; sells telecommunication and information technology equipment; procures, installs, operates, and maintenance of solar generation facilities; and operates golf club. In addition, it engages electricity, energy, and power supply; general wholesale trading; purchase and sells gaseous fuels; develops of district heating and cooling system; environmental, technologies, and engineering works; solid waste treatment; design and constructs waste-to-energy and desalination plants; commercial power generation; renewable energy generation; and owns and operates hotel. Further, the company offers property investment and development; real estate construction; trades communication systems and accessories; operates telecommunication network; IT consulting and outsourcing; distributes of IT products; colocation services; fixed and other related telecommunication services; ICT solutions; management services; fund management; investment advisory; and real estate investment trust. The company was formerly known as Keppel Corporation and changed its name to Keppel Ltd. in January 2024. Keppel Ltd. Limited was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Singapore.

About Matson

Matson, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. It primarily transports dry containers of mixed commodities, refrigerated commodities, food products, beverages, building materials, automobiles, and household goods; livestock; seafood; general sustenance cargo; and garments, footwear, e-commerce, and other retail merchandise. This segment also operates an expedited service from China to Long Beach, California, and various islands in the South Pacific, as well as Okinawa, Japan; and provides stevedoring, refrigerated cargo services, inland transportation, container equipment maintenance, and other terminal services to ocean carriers on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, as well as in the Alaska locations of Anchorage, Kodiak, and Dutch Harbor. In addition, it offers vessel management and container transshipment services. The Logistics segment provides multimodal transportation brokerage services, including domestic and international rail intermodal, long-haul and regional highway trucking, specialized hauling, flat-bed and project, less-than-truckload, and expedited freight services; less-than-container load consolidation and freight forwarding services; warehousing and distribution services; supply chain management services, and non-vessel operating common carrier freight forwarding services. It serves the U.S. military, freight forwarders, retailers, consumer goods, automobile manufacturers, and other customers. The company was formerly known as Alexander & Baldwin Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Matson, Inc. in June 2012. Matson, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii.