Recs

14

Prospecting for Stocks: DryShips

Identifying the best investment opportunities in the sector takes time. So we've built this "Prospecting" screen -- which is a simplified version of the special checklist that has helped Jeff Fischer and the Motley Fool Pro team -- to accelerate your research and help you identify companies that may make a winning addition to your portfolio.

The following stock screen is based on proprietary community intelligence from the 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS . We've enhanced the data by factoring in four hand-picked fundamental criteria to measure growth rates, margins, and overall financial health. Although we use these as guidelines, optimal benchmarks vary widely by industry. So get out your shovel and pickax as we start digging for gold.

Is it time to consider DryShips?
Our expedition into the sector begins with DryShips. Is now a good time to consider DryShips, or should you look elsewhere? Let's look at DryShips and some of its competitors.

DryShips vs. Industry Peers

Stock

DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS  )

 

Seaspan (NYSE: SSW  )

 

Ultrapetrol Limited (Nasdaq: ULTR  )

 

Danaos (NYSE: DAC  )

 

CAPS Community Rating

We prefer 4-star or 5-star stocks.

 

3 Stars

 

no

 

4 Stars

 

YES

 

5 Stars

 

YES

 

5 Stars

 

YES

CAPS 1000

We like stocks rated "outperform" by 80% of top CAPS members.

 

80% Outperform

 

YES

 

95% Outperform

 

YES

 

100% Outperform

 

YES

 

96% Outperform

 

YES

Five-Year Revenue Growth

We like to see five-year revenue growth of at least 10%.

 

67.33%

 

YES

 

57.40%

 

YES

 

21.95%

 

YES

 

9.22%

 

no

Gross Margin (TTM)

We like to see gross margins of 35% or higher.

 

59.3%

 

 

YES

 

73.8%

 

 

YES

 

51.8%

 

 

YES

 

68.9%

 

 

YES

Total Debt-to-Equity

A total debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50 or less gets a check.

 

.92

 

 

no

 

1.89

 

 

no

 

1.17

 

 

no

 

6.43

 

 

no

Return on Equity

We look for a minimum of 14% return on equity.

 

NA%

 

 

no

 

NA%

 

 

no

 

NA%

 

 

no

 

21.0%

 

 

YES

Total Score

3 of 6

4 of 6

4 of 6

4 of 6

N/M = not meaningful.

Using this rough screen, Seaspan, Ultrapetrol Limited, and Danaos appear to be better opportunities.

What do you think about DryShips? If you'd like to make your own call on DryShips, or post a pitch about why you think it will outperform or underperform the market, click here. Of course, you can also just visit to see what other members are saying about it now or what they are saying about more than 5,300 other stocks by joining us on CAPS.

Our Prospecting Stocks screen is a simplified version of the special checklist that has helped Jeff Fischer and the Pro community to find the next opportunities for the Motley Fool Pro portfolio. Learn more about Motley Fool Pro.

Jeff Fischer and team have demystified options. And they can rack up income like $1,030... $2,626... and $3,228 on a schedule you can set your watch by!
That's why we're glad to announce every single one of their closely guarded strategies is available to YOU during May and June – 100% FREE, no strings attached! Just enter your email address in the box below...

Disclosure is important to us here at The Motley Fool. The stocks mentioned in this article received their CAPS ratings from participants in the Motley Fool's CAPS service. No individual person selected the stocks in this article, so there is no author to disclose an interest in them. Since this article was automatically generated by identifying the stocks rated by the CAPS community and by buyers in today's market, it is possible that Motley Fool personnel (and even The Motley Fool itself, through our Million Dollar Portfolio, Motley Fool Pro, and Ready Made Millionaire services), have positions in these stocks. Our lawyers make us put all this at the bottom of this article. You can learn more about the Motley Fool's disclosure policyhere.


Read/Post Comments (4) | Recommend This Article (14)

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On December 01, 2009, at 3:02 PM, psl8er wrote:

    Once again you are comparing apples with pears. Drys is a dry bulk cargo shipping company with a large unrelated investment in deep ocean drilling rigs.

    As such the dry cargo markets con tinue to decline and will get worse as more new ships are delivered and the cargo owners increase their own fleets.

    The other companies you compare Drys with are in containers and tankers, completely different markets.

    Drys will die under its vast debt and overpriced ships.

    It has distributed vast amounts of cash to its founder over the past couple of years, is in default on most of its debt. SELL

  • Report this Comment On December 02, 2009, at 7:59 PM, davesites wrote:

    the world markets will turn and oil will stay around 70 to 80 . BUY for the long.

  • Report this Comment On December 02, 2009, at 8:16 PM, ChannelDunlap wrote:

    Agree with psl8er. I owned DRYS for a time, but I would never do it again. I've never felt less confident about a stock that I owned. Any hopes for gains rely on phrases like "... assume they get waivers" and "... assume shipping picks up." and the like.

    Aside from that, I've heard nothing but bad, bad things about the CEO. I'm trying to remember the exact situation now, but at some point while I was a shareholder, he bought or sold something from another company, which he controlled. And another company, which he controlled, took a commission for setting it all up. It was ridiculous, like the most obvious "I need some extra money guys" act I'd ever seen.

    So, in short, No, I would not buy DRYS right now. I am an EXM holder with my eye on NM too, so I love the sector, just not DRYS.

  • Report this Comment On December 30, 2009, at 11:18 AM, sid2286 wrote:

    When I was looking into the sector, my broker suggested DRYS, and "joked" that it was run by the mob. I ended up investing in SBLK.

Add your comment.

Compare Brokers

Fool Disclosure

DocumentId: 1055823, ~/Articles/ArticleHandler.aspx, 5/19/2013 12:03:26 PM

Report This Comment

Use this area to report a comment that you believe is in violation of the community guidelines. Our team will review the entry and take any appropriate action.

Sending report...

Today's Market

updated 1 day ago Sponsored by:
DOW 15,354.40 121.18 0.80%
S&P 500 1,667.47 17.00 1.03%
NASD 3,498.97 33.73 0.97%

Create My Watchlist

Go to My Watchlist

You don't seem to be following any stocks yet!

Better investing starts with a watchlist. Now you can create a personalized watchlist and get immediate access to the personalized information you need to make successful investing decisions.

Data delayed up to 5 minutes

Related Tickers

5/17/2013 3:59 PM
DRYS $2.08 Down -0.02 -0.95%
DryShips, Inc. CAPS Rating: ***
ULTR $2.90 Down -0.05 -1.69%
Ultrapetrol (Baham… CAPS Rating: **
SSW $23.02 Up +0.13 +0.57%
Seaspan Corp CAPS Rating: *****
DAC $4.16 Up +0.11 +2.72%
Danaos Corp CAPS Rating: *****

Advertisement