Reviewing Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) and Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC)

Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP) and Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Ardmore Shipping”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Martin Midstream Partners	$707.62 million	0.15	-$5.21 million	($0.52)	-5.19
Ardmore Shipping	$324.20 million	1.53	$133.01 million	$1.03	11.86

Ardmore Shipping has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Martin Midstream Partners. Martin Midstream Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ardmore Shipping, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.2% of Ardmore Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Ardmore Shipping’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Martin Midstream Partners	-2.91%	N/A	-3.79%
Ardmore Shipping	14.48%	8.46%	7.38%

Dividends

Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Ardmore Shipping pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -3.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ardmore Shipping pays out 27.2% 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.

Volatility and Risk

Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.55, suggesting that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardmore Shipping has a beta of 0.09, suggesting that its share price is 91% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Martin Midstream Partners and Ardmore Shipping, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Martin Midstream Partners	1	0	0	0	1.00
Ardmore Shipping	0	3	2	1	2.67

Ardmore Shipping has a consensus target price of $12.67, indicating a potential upside of 3.66%. Given Ardmore Shipping’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ardmore Shipping is more favorable than Martin Midstream Partners.

Summary

Ardmore Shipping beats Martin Midstream Partners on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Martin Midstream Partners

Martin Midstream Partners L.P., together with its subsidiaries, provides terminalling, processing, storage, and packaging services for petroleum products and by-products primarily in the United States. The company operates in four segments: Terminalling and Storage, Transportation, Sulfur Services, and Specialty Products. The company's Terminalling and Storage segment owns or operates various marine shore-based terminal facilities and specialty terminal facilities that provide storage, refining, blending, packaging, and handling services for producers and suppliers of petroleum products and by-products. This segment also offers land rental services to oil and gas companies, as well as storage and handling services for lubricants and fuels. Its Transportation segment operates various trucks and tank trailers; and inland marine tank barges, inland push boats, and articulated offshore tug and barge unit to transport petroleum products and by-products, petrochemicals, and chemicals. The company's Sulfur Services segment processes molten sulfur into prilled or pelletized sulfur, which is used in the production of fertilizers and industrial chemicals. Its Specialty Products segment stores, distributes, and transports natural gas liquids for wholesale deliveries to refineries, industrial natural gas liquid users, and propane retailers. Martin Midstream GP LLC serves as a general partner of the company. Martin Midstream Partners L.P. was incorporated in 2002 and is based in Kilgore, Texas.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers. Ardmore Shipping Corporation was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Pembroke, Bermuda.