Comparing Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) and Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM)

Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) and Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM) are both transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Navios Maritime Partners”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Odyssey Marine Exploration	$350,000.00	150.61	-$43.08 million	($1.17)	-0.77
Navios Maritime Partners	$1.34 billion	1.60	$285.33 million	$11.87	6.32

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Odyssey Marine Exploration and Navios Maritime Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Odyssey Marine Exploration	1	0	0	0	1.00
Navios Maritime Partners	0	1	1	0	2.50

Navios Maritime Partners has a consensus target price of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.25%. Given Navios Maritime Partners’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Navios Maritime Partners is more favorable than Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Profitability

This table compares Odyssey Marine Exploration and Navios Maritime Partners’ 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%
Navios Maritime Partners	25.05%	10.48%	5.83%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of Navios Maritime Partners 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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Odyssey Marine Exploration has a beta of -0.24, meaning that its share price is 124% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Navios Maritime Partners has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Navios Maritime Partners 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 Navios Maritime Partners

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters. Navios Maritime Partners L.P. was founded in 2007 and is based in Monaco.