Martin Midstream Partners (NASDAQ:MMLP – Get Free Report) and Navios Maritime Partners (NYSE:NMM – Get Free Report) are both transportation companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Navios Maritime Partners”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Martin Midstream Partners | $716.11 million | 0.14 | -$14.74 million | ($0.51) | -4.98 |
| Navios Maritime Partners | $1.34 billion | 1.61 | $285.33 million | $9.61 | 7.86 |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Martin Midstream Partners and Navios Maritime Partners, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Martin Midstream Partners | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 |
| Navios Maritime Partners | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 |
Martin Midstream Partners presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.11%. Navios Maritime Partners has a consensus price target of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.55%. Given Martin Midstream Partners’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Martin Midstream Partners is more favorable than Navios Maritime Partners.
Volatility & Risk
Martin Midstream Partners has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Navios Maritime Partners has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Martin Midstream Partners and Navios Maritime Partners’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Martin Midstream Partners | -2.88% | N/A | -3.93% |
| Navios Maritime Partners | 21.23% | 9.17% | 5.04% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
34.9% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.7% of Navios Maritime Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.0% of Martin Midstream Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Dividends
Martin Midstream Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Navios Maritime Partners pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Martin Midstream Partners pays out -3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Navios Maritime Partners pays out 2.5% 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. Martin Midstream Partners is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Summary
Navios Maritime Partners beats Martin Midstream Partners on 12 of the 16 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 Navios Maritime Partners
Navios Maritime Partners L.P. owns and operates dry cargo vessels in Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. The company offers seaborne transportation services for a range of liquid and dry cargo commodities, including crude oil, refined petroleum, chemicals, iron ore, coal, grain, fertilizer, and containers, as well as charters its vessels under short, medium, and longer-term charters. Navios Maritime Partners L.P. was founded in 2007 and is based in Monaco.
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