Critical Analysis: Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) and Toro (NASDAQ:TORO)

Toro (NASDAQ:TORO) and Okeanis Eco Tankers (NYSE:ECO) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Toro and Okeanis Eco Tankers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Toro	0	0	0	0	0.00
Okeanis Eco Tankers	0	0	1	0	3.00

Okeanis Eco Tankers has a consensus target price of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 70.00%. Given Okeanis Eco Tankers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Okeanis Eco Tankers is more favorable than Toro.

Profitability

This table compares Toro and Okeanis Eco Tankers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Toro	176.49%	17.16%	10.30%
Okeanis Eco Tankers	27.68%	25.40%	9.58%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

1.7% of Toro shares are held by institutional investors. 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Toro and Okeanis Eco Tankers”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Toro	$80.63 million	0.56	$140.64 million	$1.06	2.25
Okeanis Eco Tankers	$393.23 million	1.93	$145.25 million	$3.38	6.96

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

Risk & Volatility

Toro has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Okeanis Eco Tankers has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Okeanis Eco Tankers beats Toro on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Okeanis Eco Tankers

Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp., a shipping company, owns and operates tanker vessels worldwide. It operates a fleet of 14 tanker vessels comprising six modern Suezmax tankers and eight modern VLCC tankers focusing on the transportation of crude oil. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is based in Neo Faliro, Greece.