Critical Survey: Icon Energy (NASDAQ:ICON) versus Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB)

Icon Energy (NASDAQ:ICON) and Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) are both small-cap industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Icon Energy and Safe Bulkers”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Icon Energy	$15.54 million	0.04	-$4.20 million	($24.60)	-0.04
Safe Bulkers	$307.50 million	2.66	$38.56 million	$0.78	10.29

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

Profitability

This table compares Icon Energy and Safe Bulkers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Icon Energy	N/A	N/A	N/A
Safe Bulkers	28.29%	9.63%	5.77%

Volatility & Risk

Icon Energy has a beta of 5.48, indicating that its share price is 448% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Safe Bulkers has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

21.7% of Safe Bulkers shares are held by institutional investors. 40.3% of Safe Bulkers shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Icon Energy pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 36.1%. Safe Bulkers pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Icon Energy pays out -1.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Safe Bulkers pays out 38.5% 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. Icon Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Icon Energy and Safe Bulkers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Icon Energy	0	1	0	0	2.00
Safe Bulkers	0	1	1	0	2.50

Safe Bulkers has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential downside of 25.22%. Given Safe Bulkers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Safe Bulkers is more favorable than Icon Energy.

Summary

Safe Bulkers beats Icon Energy on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Icon Energy

Iconix Brand Group, Inc. is a brand management company. As of December 31, 2016, the Company owned a portfolio of over 30 global consumer brands across women’s, men’s, and home categories. The Company operates through segments: men’s, women’s, home and international. The Company’s brand portfolio includes brands, such as Candie’s, Bongo, Joe Boxer, Rampage, Mudd, London Fog, Mossimo, Ocean Pacific/OP, Danskin/Danskin Now, Rocawear/Roc Nation, Cannon, Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest, Charisma, Starter, Waverly, Ecko Unltd/Mark Ecko Cut & Sew, Zoo York, Umbro, Lee Cooper and Artful Dodger, and interests in Material Girl, Ed Hardy, Truth or Dare, Modern Amusement, Buffalo, Nick Graham Hydraulic and PONY brands. It operates in various geographic regions, including the United States, Japan and Other (which principally represent Latin America and Europe).

About Safe Bulkers

Safe Bulkers, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides marine drybulk transportation services. It owns and operates drybulk vessels for transporting bulk cargoes primarily coal, grain, and iron ore. The company has a fleet of 47 drybulk vessels having an aggregate carrying capacity of 4,719,600 deadweight tons. Its fleet consists of 10 Panamax class vessels, 11 Kamsarmax class vessels, 18 post-Panamax class vessels, and 8 Capesize class vessels. Safe Bulkers, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Monaco.