Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN) versus Kirby (NYSE:KEX) Head-To-Head Review

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) and Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TEN) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Kirby has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tsakos Energy Navigation has a beta of -0.26, suggesting that its share price is 126% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.2% of Kirby shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.2% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Kirby shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Tsakos Energy Navigation shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Kirby and Tsakos Energy Navigation, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kirby	0	1	6	0	2.86
Tsakos Energy Navigation	0	2	1	0	2.33

Kirby currently has a consensus target price of $163.20, indicating a potential upside of 25.22%. Tsakos Energy Navigation has a consensus target price of $29.50, indicating a potential downside of 36.78%. Given Kirby’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Kirby is more favorable than Tsakos Energy Navigation.

Profitability

This table compares Kirby and Tsakos Energy Navigation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kirby	10.18%	10.44%	5.82%
Tsakos Energy Navigation	33.81%	29.44%	13.76%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Kirby and Tsakos Energy Navigation”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kirby	$3.49 billion	1.97	$354.57 million	$6.50	20.05
Tsakos Energy Navigation	$959.70 million	1.46	$160.90 million	$9.87	4.73

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

Summary

Kirby beats Tsakos Energy Navigation on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kirby

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. It also transports petrochemicals, black oils, refined petroleum products, and agricultural chemicals by tank barges; and operates offshore dry-bulk barges and tugboat units that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargos in the United States coastal trade. It owns and operates 1,076 inland tank barges, approximately 281 inland towboats, 28 coastal tank barges, 25 coastal tugboats, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barges, 4 offshore tugboats, and a docking tugboat. Its Distribution and Services segment sells after-market service and genuine replacement parts for engines, transmissions, reduction gears, electric motors, drives, and controls, electrical distribution and control systems, energy storage battery systems, and related oilfield service equipment; rebuilds component parts or diesel engines, transmissions and reduction gears, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents generators, industrial compressors, high capacity lift trucks, and refrigeration trailers; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units, as well as manufacturers electric power generation equipment, specialized electrical distribution and control equipment, and high capacity energy storage/battery systems. It serves to various companies, the United States government, and pleasure crafts. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

About Tsakos Energy Navigation

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd. engages in the provision of seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services. Its activities include the operation of crude tankers, product tankers, and liquefied natural gas carriers. The company was founded by Nikolas P. Tsakos and Michael Gordon Jolliffee in July 1993 and is headquartered in Athens, Greece.