Head to Head Comparison: Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) versus Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN)

Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN) and Odyssey Marine Exploration (NASDAQ:OMEX) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Tsakos Energy Navigation and Odyssey Marine Exploration, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tsakos Energy Navigation	0	3	1	0	2.25
Odyssey Marine Exploration	1	0	0	0	1.00

Tsakos Energy Navigation presently has a consensus price target of $29.50, indicating a potential upside of 34.82%. Given Tsakos Energy Navigation’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Tsakos Energy Navigation is more favorable than Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

19.2% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.0% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Odyssey Marine Exploration shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Tsakos Energy Navigation and Odyssey Marine Exploration”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tsakos Energy Navigation	$804.06 million	0.82	$176.23 million	$3.18	6.88
Odyssey Marine Exploration	$770,000.00	157.81	$15.66 million	($0.78)	-2.79

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

Volatility & Risk

Tsakos Energy Navigation has a beta of -0.21, suggesting that its share price is 121% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Odyssey Marine Exploration has a beta of -0.86, suggesting that its share price is 186% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Tsakos Energy Navigation and Odyssey Marine Exploration’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tsakos Energy Navigation	15.97%	13.36%	6.31%
Odyssey Marine Exploration	-6,569.59%	N/A	-191.52%

Summary

Tsakos Energy Navigation beats Odyssey Marine Exploration on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tsakos Energy Navigation

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. engages in the provision of seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services. Its activities include the operation of crude tankers, product tankers, and liquefied natural gas carriers. The company was founded by Nikolas P. Tsakos and Michael Gordon Jolliffee in July 1993 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.

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.