Comparing COSCO SHIPPING (OTCMKTS:CICOY) & SFL (NYSE:SFL)

SFL (NYSE:SFL) and COSCO SHIPPING (OTCMKTS:CICOY) are both transportation companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for SFL and COSCO SHIPPING, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SFL	0	1	1	0	2.50
COSCO SHIPPING	2	2	0	0	1.50

SFL presently has a consensus target price of $11.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.31%. Given SFL’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SFL is more favorable than COSCO SHIPPING.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares SFL and COSCO SHIPPING”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SFL	$904.40 million	1.49	$130.65 million	($0.01)	-922.00
COSCO SHIPPING	$32.53 billion	0.86	$6.84 billion	N/A	N/A

COSCO SHIPPING has higher revenue and earnings than SFL.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

28.6% of SFL shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

SFL pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.7%. COSCO SHIPPING pays an annual dividend of $0.57 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.5%. SFL pays out -8,000.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SFL has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. SFL is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares SFL and COSCO SHIPPING’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SFL	-0.20%	3.05%	0.80%
COSCO SHIPPING	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

SFL has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, COSCO SHIPPING has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

SFL beats COSCO SHIPPING on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SFL

SFL Corporation Ltd., a maritime and offshore asset owning and chartering company, engages in the ownership, operation, and chartering out of vessels and offshore related assets on medium and long-term charters. The company operates in various sectors of the maritime, and shipping and offshore industries, including oil transportation, dry bulk shipments, chemical transportation, oil products transportation, container transportation, car transportation, and drilling rigs. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned seven crude oil carriers, six oil product tankers, 15 dry bulk carriers, 32 container vessels, one jack-up drilling rig, one ultra-deepwater drilling rig, and five car carriers. It primarily operates in Bermuda, Canada, Cyprus, Liberia, Namibia, Norway, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the Marshall Islands. The company was formerly known as Ship Finance International Limited and changed its name to SFL Corporation Ltd. in September 2019. SFL Corporation Ltd. was founded in 2003 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

About COSCO SHIPPING

COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd., an investment holding company, engages in the container shipping, managing and operating container terminals, and other terminal related businesses in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Mainland China, and internationally. It operates through Container Shipping Business and Terminal Business segments. The company offers freight forwarding and transportation, vessel chartering, container transportation, marine, vessel management and manning, cargo and liner agency, logistics, document, shipping agency and other sea transport, container stack, cargo storage, and cargo transportation services. It is also involved in the design and manufacture of computer software, as well as provision of technology services and solutions; asset management business; and operation of terminals. The company was formerly known as China COSCO Holdings Company Limited and changed its name to COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. in November 2016. COSCO SHIPPING Holdings Co., Ltd. was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China.