Comparing Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) and A.P. Moller-Maersk (OTCMKTS:AMKBY)

Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) and A.P. Moller-Maersk (OTCMKTS:AMKBY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by institutional investors. 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are owned by company insiders. 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Safe Bulkers and A.P. Moller-Maersk, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Safe Bulkers	0	2	1	0	2.33
A.P. Moller-Maersk	5	7	0	1	1.77

Safe Bulkers currently has a consensus target price of $6.00, indicating a potential downside of 29.82%. Given Safe Bulkers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Safe Bulkers is more favorable than A.P. Moller-Maersk.

Risk & Volatility

Safe Bulkers has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, A.P. Moller-Maersk has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Safe Bulkers and A.P. Moller-Maersk’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Safe Bulkers	28.29%	9.63%	5.77%
A.P. Moller-Maersk	4.08%	4.38%	2.82%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Safe Bulkers and A.P. Moller-Maersk”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Safe Bulkers	$307.50 million	2.83	$38.56 million	$0.78	10.96
A.P. Moller-Maersk	$53.99 billion	1.00	$2.73 billion	$0.78	21.84

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

Dividends

Safe Bulkers pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. A.P. Moller-Maersk pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Safe Bulkers pays out 38.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. A.P. Moller-Maersk pays out 25.6% 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

Safe Bulkers beats A.P. Moller-Maersk on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About A.P. Moller-Maersk

A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the ocean transport and logistics business in Denmark and internationally. It operates through Ocean, Logistics & Services, Terminals, and Towage & Maritime Services segments. The Ocean segment is involved in container shipping activities, including demurrage and detention, terminal handling, documentation and container services, and container storage, as well as transshipment hubs. The Logistics & Services segment offers integrated transportation solutions; fulfillment and management solutions, such as landside and air transportation; warehousing, distribution, and depot services; and supply chain management, cold chain logistics, and custom brokerage services. The Terminals segment engages in gateway terminal activities. The Towage & Maritime Services segment provides offshore towage and marine services under the Svitzer brand; reefer containers; offshore supply services; trading; and marine services and integrated solutions to the energy sector. It also offers digital solutions that offer booking, managing, tracking of shipments, and other related activities. The company serves fashion and lifestyle, retail, automotive, chemicals, technology, and FMCG industries. A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.