Head to Head Review: Rand Logistics (NASDAQ:RLOG) versus Navios Maritime Holdings (NM)

Rand Logistics (NASDAQ: RLOG) and Navios Maritime Holdings (NYSE:NM) are both small-cap transportation companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitabiliy, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Rand Logistics and Navios Maritime Holdings, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rand Logistics	0	0	0	0	N/A
Navios Maritime Holdings	1	1	0	0	1.50

Navios Maritime Holdings has a consensus price target of $1.25, suggesting a potential upside of 10.62%. Given Navios Maritime Holdings’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Navios Maritime Holdings is more favorable than Rand Logistics.

Risk & Volatility

Rand Logistics has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Navios Maritime Holdings has a beta of 2.95, suggesting that its share price is 195% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Rand Logistics and Navios Maritime Holdings’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rand Logistics	-15.79%	-76.58%	-5.56%
Navios Maritime Holdings	-20.55%	-13.28%	-4.27%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

44.8% of Rand Logistics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.7% of Navios Maritime Holdings shares are held by institutional investors. 13.1% of Rand Logistics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Rand Logistics and Navios Maritime Holdings’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rand Logistics	$115.45 million	0.05	$23.74 million	($1.08)	-0.31
Navios Maritime Holdings	$435.26 million	0.30	$79.40 million	($0.80)	-1.41

Navios Maritime Holdings has higher revenue and earnings than Rand Logistics. Navios Maritime Holdings is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Rand Logistics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Navios Maritime Holdings beats Rand Logistics on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rand Logistics

Rand Logistics, Inc. is a shipping company that, through its operating subsidiaries, is engaged in the operation of bulk carriers on the Great Lakes. The Company’s shipping business is operated in Canada by Lower Lakes Towing Ltd. (Lower Lakes Towing) and in the United States by Lower Lakes Transportation Company (Lower Lakes Transportation). The Company transports construction aggregates, salt, grain, coal, iron ore, and other dry bulk commodities for customers in the construction, electric utility, food, and integrated steel industries. Lower Lakes’ fleet consists of approximately six self-unloading bulk carriers and over four conventional bulk carriers in Canada and approximately six self-unloading bulk carriers in the United States, including over three articulated tug and barge units. Lower Lakes Towing owns approximately nine Canadian vessels and Lower Lakes Towing (17) Ltd. (Lower Lakes (17)) owns the tenth Canadian vessel.

About Navios Maritime Holdings

Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (Navios Holdings) is a global, vertically integrated seaborne shipping and logistics company. The Company is focused on the transport and transshipment of dry bulk commodities, including iron ore, coal and grain. It operates through two segments: the Dry bulk Vessel Operations and the Logistics Business. The Dry bulk Vessel Operations segment consists of the transportation and handling of bulk cargoes through the ownership, operation and trading of vessels, freight and forward freight agreements (FFAs). The Logistics Business segment consists of port terminal business, barge business and cabotage business in the Hidrovia region of South America. Navios Holdings also offers commercial and technical management services to the fleets of Navios Maritime Partners L.P., Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation, Navios Maritime Midstream Partners L.P., Navios Europe Inc. and Navios Europe (II) Inc.