Financial Review: Performance Shipping (NASDAQ:PSHG) & Capital Clean Energy Carriers (NASDAQ:CCEC)

Performance Shipping (NASDAQ:PSHG) and Capital Clean Energy Carriers (NASDAQ:CCEC) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.9% of Performance Shipping shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Performance Shipping shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Performance Shipping and Capital Clean Energy Carriers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Performance Shipping	49.49%	16.99%	13.89%
Capital Clean Energy Carriers	46.85%	9.76%	3.16%

Dividends

Performance Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Capital Clean Energy Carriers pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Performance Shipping pays out 8.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Capital Clean Energy Carriers pays out 23.4% 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. Performance Shipping is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Risk & Volatility

Performance Shipping has a beta of -0.56, meaning that its share price is 156% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Capital Clean Energy Carriers has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Performance Shipping and Capital Clean Energy Carriers”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Performance Shipping	$87.45 million	0.19	$69.41 million	$1.12	1.19
Capital Clean Energy Carriers	$369.41 million	2.84	$193.63 million	$2.56	7.02

Capital Clean Energy Carriers has higher revenue and earnings than Performance Shipping. Performance Shipping 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Performance Shipping and Capital Clean Energy Carriers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Performance Shipping	0	0	1	0	3.00
Capital Clean Energy Carriers	0	1	2	0	2.67

Performance Shipping currently has a consensus target price of $6.50, suggesting a potential upside of 388.72%. Capital Clean Energy Carriers has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33.63%. Given Performance Shipping’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Performance Shipping is more favorable than Capital Clean Energy Carriers.

Summary

Performance Shipping beats Capital Clean Energy Carriers on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Performance Shipping

Performance Shipping Inc. provides shipping transportation services through its tanker vessels worldwide. As of December 31, 2023, its fleet consisted of seven Aframax tanker vessels with a combined carrying capacity of 735,910 DWT. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is based in Athens, Greece.

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.