Comparing Toro (NASDAQ:TORO) and Himalaya Shipping (NYSE:HSHP)

Himalaya Shipping (NYSE:HSHP) and Toro (NASDAQ:TORO) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.3% of Himalaya Shipping shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.7% of Toro shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Himalaya Shipping has a beta of 2.32, meaning that its share price is 132% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Toro has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Himalaya Shipping and Toro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Himalaya Shipping	17.03%	13.36%	2.49%
Toro	176.49%	17.16%	10.30%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Himalaya Shipping and Toro, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Himalaya Shipping	1	0	0	0	1.00
Toro	0	0	0	0	0.00

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Himalaya Shipping and Toro”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Himalaya Shipping	$123.58 million	1.76	$1.51 million	$0.48	11.34
Toro	$80.63 million	0.56	$140.64 million	$1.06	2.23

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

Summary

Himalaya Shipping beats Toro on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Himalaya Shipping

Himalaya Shipping Ltd. provides dry bulk shipping services worldwide. The company operates a fleet of vessels. It serves major commodity trading, commodity and energy transition, and multi-modal transport companies. Himalaya Shipping Ltd. was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About Toro

Toro Corp., a shipping company, acquires, owns, charters, and operates oceangoing tanker vessels and provides seaborne transportation services for crude oil LPG, and refined petroleum products worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Aframax/LR2 Tanker, Handysize Tanker, and LPG Carrier. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of one Handysize tanker vessel; one Aframax/LR2 vessel; and four LPG carrier vessels with an aggregate cargo carrying capacity of 0.1 million deadweight ton. Toro Corp. was incorporated in 2022 and is based in Limassol, Cyprus.