Kirby (KEX) Competitors

Matson (NYSE:MATX) and Kirby (NYSE:KEX) are both mid-cap transportation companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Which has better earnings and valuation, MATX or KEX?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Matson	$3.42B	0.98	$297.10M	$14.04	7.31
Kirby	$3.27B	1.67	$286.71M	$4.91	19.56

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of MATX or KEX?

84.8% of Matson shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Kirby shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Matson shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Kirby shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer MATX or KEX?

Matson presently has a consensus target price of $167.50, suggesting a potential upside of 63.27%. Kirby has a consensus target price of $128.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33.26%. Given Matson's higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Matson is more favorable than Kirby.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Matson	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Kirby	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is MATX or KEX more profitable?

Matson has a net margin of 12.37% compared to Kirby's net margin of 8.78%. Matson's return on equity of 16.89% beat Kirby's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Matson	12.37%	16.89%	9.54%
Kirby	8.78%	9.71%	5.46%

Does the media refer more to MATX or KEX?

In the previous week, Kirby had 2 more articles in the media than Matson. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Kirby and 13 mentions for Matson. Kirby's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Matson's score of 1.18 indicating that Kirby is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Matson	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kirby	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in MATX or KEX?

Kirby received 264 more outperform votes than Matson when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.13% of users gave Matson an outperform vote while only 60.72% of users gave Kirby an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Matson	Outperform Votes 274 62.13%	Underperform Votes 167 37.87%
Kirby	Outperform Votes 538 60.72%	Underperform Votes 348 39.28%

Which has more volatility & risk, MATX or KEX?

Matson has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kirby has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Matson beats Kirby on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.