Reviewing Matson (NYSE:MATX) and DSV (OTCMKTS:DSDVY)

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and DSV (OTCMKTS:DSDVY) are both transportation companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Matson has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DSV has a beta of 1.32, suggesting that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Matson and DSV’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	12.70%	16.23%	9.44%
DSV	4.23%	10.92%	4.63%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Matson and DSV, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0	4	2	0	2.33
DSV	0	2	2	1	2.80

Matson currently has a consensus target price of $148.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.06%. Given Matson’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than DSV.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Matson and DSV”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.42 billion	1.19	$476.40 million	$13.14	9.96
DSV	$24.24 billion	2.59	$1.47 billion	$2.94	44.37

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.2% of DSV shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Matson shares are owned 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.

Dividends

Matson pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. DSV pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Matson pays out 11.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. DSV pays out 10.2% 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. Matson has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Matson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Matson beats DSV on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About DSV

DSV A/S offers transport and logistics services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. It operates through three segments: Air & Sea, Road, and Solutions. The company provides air freight, air freight compliance and carrier, and rail freight services; sea freight, and sea freight compliance and carrier services, as well as freight containers. It also offers road freight services, such as part and full loads, groupage, specialized transport, express, and online and document handling services; and workshops. In addition, the company provides logistics solutions for automotive, technology, healthcare, energy, industrial, retail/ fashion, and chemical sectors; and inventory management solutions. Further, it offers special project transport services, such as industrial projects, renewable energy, government logistics, ship charter, and air charter services; and courier and warehousing services. The company was formerly known as DSV Panalpina A/S and changed its name to DSV A/S in September 2021. DSV A/S was incorporated in 1976 and is based in Hedehusene, Denmark.