Reviewing Matson (NYSE:MATX) and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (NYSE:ASR)

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (NYSE:ASR) and Matson (NYSE:MATX) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

10.6% of Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Matson shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste and Matson”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste	$31.33 billion	0.29	$743.97 million	$18.86	15.88
Matson	$3.38 billion	0.98	$476.40 million	$13.14	8.13

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste has higher revenue and earnings than Matson. Matson is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Matson has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste pays an annual dividend of $37.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.6%. Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste pays out 200.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Matson pays out 11.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Matson has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste and Matson, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste	2	4	1	0	1.86
Matson	0	4	2	0	2.33

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste currently has a consensus price target of $305.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.83%. Matson has a consensus price target of $141.75, suggesting a potential upside of 32.75%. Given Matson’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Matson is more favorable than Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste.

Profitability

This table compares Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste and Matson’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste	31.96%	17.47%	12.99%
Matson	14.26%	18.90%	10.95%

Summary

Matson beats Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S. A. B. de C. V. holds concessions to operate, maintain, and develop airports in the southeast region of Mexico. The company operates airports that are located in the cities of Cancún, Cozumel, Mérida, Huatulco, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Villahermosa, Tapachula, and Minatitlán. It provides aeronautical services, which include passenger, aircraft landing and parking, passenger walkway, and airport security services. The company also offers non-aeronautical services, such as leasing of space at its airports to retailers, restaurants, airlines, and other commercial tenants; catering, handling, and ground transportation services, as well as engages in the various commercial operations. In addition, it holds concessions to operate the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and various airports in Colombia, including the Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellín, the José María Córdova International Airport in Rionegro, the Los Garzones Airport in Montería, the Antonio Roldán Betancourt Airport in Carepa, the El Caraño Airport in Quibdó, and the Las Brujas Airport in Corozal. Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste, S. A. B. de C. V. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.

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.