Head to Head Review: Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) vs. Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP)

In the transportation sector, two small-cap shipping companies—Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) and Seanergy Maritime (NASDAQ:SHIP)—are vying for investor attention. This article assesses which company may be the better investment by comparing various factors such as earnings strength, risk levels, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

Looking at the current ratings from MarketBeat.com, we can see how analysts view both companies. The table below summarizes the recommendations:

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00
Seanergy Maritime	0	0	2	1	3.33

Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus price target of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 84.58%. In contrast, Seanergy Maritime has a target of $12.00, suggesting a 67.83% upside. Analysts appear to favor Okeanis Eco Tankers for its higher growth potential.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

When assessing ownership, 29.4% of Seanergy Maritime's shares are owned by institutional investors, while insiders hold 4.7%. Strong institutional ownership is often seen as a sign that major investors believe a stock is likely to perform well in the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This section highlights a comparison of key financial metrics between the two companies:

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$399.71 million	1.75	$145.25 million	$3.38	6.41
Seanergy Maritime	$165.21 million	0.90	$2.28 million	$2.34	3.06

Okeanis Eco Tankers significantly outperforms Seanergy Maritime in both revenue and earnings. Although Seanergy's price-to-earnings ratio is lower, suggesting it might be more affordable, Okeanis shows stronger financial performance.

Dividends

Both companies also offer dividends to their shareholders. Okeanis Eco Tankers provides an annual dividend of $1.40 per share with a yield of 6.5%. Seanergy Maritime, meanwhile, offers a dividend of $1.04 per share, yielding 14.5%. Okeanis Eco Tankers has a payout ratio of 41.4% of its earnings, while Seanergy Maritime's ratio stands at 44.4%. Both firms have reasonable payout ratios and should manage their dividend commitments well for the foreseeable future.

Profitability

In terms of profitability metrics, the following comparisons are noteworthy:

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Okeanis Eco Tankers	27.68%	25.40%	9.58%
Seanergy Maritime	28.37%	19.01%	9.30%

Okeanis Eco Tankers and Seanergy Maritime have similar net margins, but Okeanis exceeds Seanergy in return on equity.

Conclusion

Overall, Okeanis Eco Tankers outperforms Seanergy Maritime in 9 of the 16 evaluated factors, particularly in revenue and earnings.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers is a global shipping company that owns and operates tanker vessels. The company was established in 2018 and has its base in Neo Faliro, Greece. Its fleet comprises 14 tanker vessels, including six modern Suezmax tankers and eight VLCC tankers, mainly focusing on crude oil transportation.

About Seanergy Maritime

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. provides seaborne transportation of dry bulk commodities through its fleet of 16 Capesize bulk carriers and one Newcastlemax bulk carrier. Established in 2008 and based in Glyfada, Greece, Seanergy was previously known as Seanergy Merger Corp. until its rebranding in 2008.

Stocks, Investment, Shipping