Financial Survey: Danaos (NYSE:DAC) & Hafnia (NYSE:HAFN)

Danaos (NYSE:DAC) and Hafnia (NYSE:HAFN) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Danaos has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hafnia has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Danaos and Hafnia, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Danaos	0	1	2	1	3.00
Hafnia	0	2	0	1	2.67

Danaos currently has a consensus price target of $105.00, indicating a potential downside of 20.23%. Given Danaos’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Danaos is more favorable than Hafnia.

Profitability

This table compares Danaos and Hafnia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Danaos	49.85%	13.38%	10.42%
Hafnia	35.54%	14.71%	9.21%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Danaos and Hafnia”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Danaos	$1.04 billion	2.30	$494.61 million	$26.78	4.92
Hafnia	$955.87 million	4.63	$339.68 million	$0.68	12.70

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

Dividends

Danaos pays an annual dividend of $3.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Hafnia pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Danaos pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hafnia pays out 102.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Danaos has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

19.0% of Danaos shares are held by institutional investors. 41.0% of Danaos shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Danaos beats Hafnia on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Danaos

Danaos Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides container and drybulk vessels services in Australia, Asia, and Europe. The company offers seaborne transportation services by operating vessels in the containership and drybulk sectors of the shipping industry. As of April 03, 2024, it had a fleet of 68 containerships aggregating 421,293 twenty-foot equivalent units in capacity. The company was formerly known as Danaos Holdings Limited and changed its name to Danaos Corporation in October 2005. Danaos Corporation was founded in 1963 and is based in Piraeus, Greece.

About Hafnia

Hafnia Limited owns and operates oil product tankers in Bermuda. It operates through Long Range II, Long Range I, Medium Range (MR), Handy size, and Specialized segments. The company transports clean and dirty, refined oil products, vegetable oil, and easy chemicals to national and international oil companies, and chemical companies, as well as trading and utility companies; and owns and operates 200 vessels. It provides ship owning, ship-management, investment, management, corporate support, and agency office services. In addition, the company provides integrated shipping platform, including technical management, commercial and chartering services, pool management, and large-scale bunker desk services. Hafnia Limited is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.