Analyzing Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) and Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP)

Costamare (NYSE:CMRE) and Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Costamare and Seanergy Maritime”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Costamare	$877.90 million	1.76	$364.58 million	$2.59	4.93
Seanergy Maritime	$158.10 million	1.83	$21.24 million	$2.86	4.84

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

Risk & Volatility

Costamare has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seanergy Maritime has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Costamare pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Seanergy Maritime pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.1%. Costamare pays out 19.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Seanergy Maritime pays out 49.0% 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.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

58.1% of Costamare shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.4% of Seanergy Maritime shares are held by institutional investors. 23.2% of Costamare shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of Seanergy Maritime shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Costamare and Seanergy Maritime, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costamare	0	2	0	1	2.67
Seanergy Maritime	0	1	3	0	2.75

Seanergy Maritime has a consensus price target of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 80.51%. Given Seanergy Maritime’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Seanergy Maritime is more favorable than Costamare.

Profitability

This table compares Costamare and Seanergy Maritime’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costamare	39.40%	14.29%	7.99%
Seanergy Maritime	30.68%	21.87%	10.20%

Summary

Costamare beats Seanergy Maritime on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Costamare

Costamare Inc. owns and operates containerships and dry bulk vessels that are chartered to liner companies providing transportation of cargoes worldwide. As of March 19, 2024, it had a fleet of fleet of 68 containerships and 37 dry bulk vessels. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Monaco.

About Seanergy Maritime

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp., a shipping company, provides seaborne transportation of dry bulk commodities worldwide. It operates a fleet of 16 Capesize dry bulk vessels and one Newcastlemax dry bulk vessel with a cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 3,054,820 dwt. The company was formerly known as Seanergy Merger Corp. and changed its name to Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. in July 2008. Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Glyfada, Greece.