Capital Clean Energy Carriers (NASDAQ:CCEC – Get Free Report) and FutureFuel (NYSE:FF – Get Free Report) are both small-cap energy companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.
Risk and Volatility
Capital Clean Energy Carriers has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FutureFuel has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Capital Clean Energy Carriers and FutureFuel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Capital Clean Energy Carriers | 27.73% | 6.55% | 2.30% |
| FutureFuel | -19.94% | -19.75% | -15.47% |
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Capital Clean Energy Carriers | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 |
| FutureFuel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Capital Clean Energy Carriers currently has a consensus target price of $24.75, indicating a potential upside of 12.50%. Given Capital Clean Energy Carriers’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Capital Clean Energy Carriers is more favorable than FutureFuel.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Capital Clean Energy Carriers and FutureFuel”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Capital Clean Energy Carriers | $392.71 million | 3.27 | $170.76 million | $1.86 | 11.83 |
| FutureFuel | $95.74 million | 2.49 | -$49.40 million | ($0.70) | -7.75 |
Capital Clean Energy Carriers has higher revenue and earnings than FutureFuel. FutureFuel is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Capital Clean Energy Carriers, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
44.6% of FutureFuel shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.6% of FutureFuel shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
Capital Clean Energy Carriers pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. FutureFuel pays an annual dividend of $0.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Capital Clean Energy Carriers pays out 32.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. FutureFuel pays out -5.7% 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.
Summary
Capital Clean Energy Carriers beats FutureFuel on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Capital Clean Energy Carriers
Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp., a shipping company, provides marine transportation services in Greece. The company’s vessels provide a range of cargoes, including liquefied natural gas, containerized goods, and cargo under short-term voyage charters, and medium to long-term time charters. It owns vessels, including Neo-Panamax container vessels, Panamax container vessels, cape-size bulk carrier, and LNG carriers. In addition, the company produces and distributes oil and natural gas, including biofuels, motor oil, lubricants, petrol, crudes, liquefied natural gas, marine fuels, natural gas liquids, and petrochemicals. It serves as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Capital Product Partners L.P. and changed its name to Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. in August 2024. Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Piraeus, Greece. Capital Clean Energy Carriers Corp. operates as a subsidiary of Capital Maritime & Trading Corp.
About FutureFuel
FutureFuel Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells diversified chemical, bio-based fuel, and bio-based specialty chemical products in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Chemicals and Biofuels. The Chemicals segment provides various custom chemicals that are used in the coatings, chemical intermediates, industrial and consumer cleaning, oil and gas, and specialty polymers industries; and performance chemicals, such as polymer modifiers, glycerin products, and various specialty chemicals and solvents. The Biofuels segment is involved in the production and sale of biodiesel and petrodiesel blends; and markets its biodiesel products directly to customers through trucks, barges, and rail cars. FutureFuel Corp. is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.
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