Matson (MATX) Competitors

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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in MATX or KEX?

84.8% of Matson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.2% of Kirby shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Matson shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Kirby shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

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%

Do analysts rate MATX or KEX?

Matson currently has a consensus price target of $167.50, indicating a potential upside of 70.41%. Kirby has a consensus price target of $128.00, indicating a potential upside of 34.48%. Given Matson's higher possible upside, research 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

Which has more risk & volatility, MATX or KEX?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer 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 preferable earnings & 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	0.94	$297.10M	$14.04	7.00
Kirby	$3.27B	1.66	$286.71M	$4.91	19.38

Does the media favor MATX or KEX?

In the previous week, Matson had 2 more articles in the media than Kirby. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Matson and 16 mentions for Kirby. Kirby's average media sentiment score of 1.46 beat Matson's score of 1.22 indicating that Kirby is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Matson	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kirby	14 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Matson beats Kirby on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.