5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Excel Maritime (EXM)

5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Excel Maritime

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, dry-bulk shipper Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE: EXM ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Excel's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Excel facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Athens, Greece (1988)
Market Cap	$358.6 million
Industry	Marine
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$423.34 million
Management	Chairman/CEO Gabriel Panayotides CFO Pavlos Kanellopoulos
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	11.6%
Cash/Debt	$65.9 million / $1.15 billion
Competitors	Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX ) DryShips (Nasdaq: DRYS ) Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq: EGLE )

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 96.5% of the 2,106 members who have rated Excel believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include abglos and sniggity.

Just two weeks ago, abglos noted that Excel "will never become a monopoly in it's industry, but the fundamentals call it a steal at this price." Our CAPS member concludes: "It should gain enough for a decent profit when the rest of the world realizes this dog is not really as mangy as it looks."

In fact, Excel currently trades at a particularly paltry price-to-book of 0.2. That represents a clear discount to rivals Diana Shipping (0.8), DryShips (0.5), and Eagle Bulk (0.4).

CAPS member sniggity expands on the outperform argument:

Dry bulk stocks have taken a beating due to speculation over excess supply of capesize vessels. However, [Excel] derives about 40% of its revenue from long-term profitable contracts with clients, the first of which will not expire until 2013. This will not stop earnings from diminishing, but will insulate the company against the decreased demand for shipping that is materially affecting its competitors.

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Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Fool's disclosure policy always gets a perfect score.

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 icon found on every comment.

Report this Comment On March 29, 2011, at 12:27 PM, psl8er wrote:

More foolish analysis based on so called comps.Look instead at the fundamentals of the dry-bulk shipping industry.
China is retrenching its manufacturing base as it struggles to contain inflation and this will reduce its demand for dry cargoes.
The major iron ore miners like Vale are building a large fleet of huge bulk carriers which will displace at least 30% of the present capesize fleet.
The disaster in Japan will further reduce demand fior the smaller size ships so the outlook for all of the companies you mention is very grim.
Report this Comment On March 29, 2011, at 12:38 PM, eganfrank wrote:

I hope you're right - I bought EXM a while back at $5.81 and lost 20% - Thankfully I only took a nibble, not a boatload!
Report this Comment On April 01, 2011, at 11:52 AM, naughtyguy wrote:

You quote someone saying: "[Excel] derives about 40% of its revenue from long-term profitable contracts with clients, the first of which will not expire until 2013. This will not stop earnings from diminishing, but will insulate the company against the decreased demand for shipping that is materially affecting its competitors."
A good percentage of contracts are for a few years or more for all shippers, would be my guess. This doesn't mean those contracts will have good profit margiins. In fact that doesn't mean much of anything related to stock price performance. The downward trend of shipping stocks doesn't encourage me to invest in them. Maybe when a bottom is more obvious this stock might be a good buy. At this point it seems to be a goodbye!
Report this Comment On April 01, 2011, at 3:27 PM, Market123 wrote:

Poised to Pop? What does it really mean? is this mean the stock it will rise or will the stock drop?
Report this Comment On April 15, 2011, at 9:04 PM, imacg5 wrote:

He doesn't know what it means.
Fool authors are given a choice of some tired headlines. And they insert the Ticker.
5 Star stocks poised to pop: ______
Would Warren Buffet buy this stock? _____
Is _____ a John Neff stock?
5 star stocks with great cash flow: ____

The actual fundamentals don't matter. And most of the statistics are based on trailing PE ratios and data.
But, there's always a disclaimer, stating that these screeners are not a replacement for actual due diligence.
It's too bad the article itself doesn't include some due diligence.
Really, the dry bulk sector is incredibly transparent, try just a little research. Motley Fools have rated the dry bulks with 5 stars for the last two years. Now look at the two years charts on these deadbeats.

updated 2 days ago Sponsored by:
	DOW	12,454.83	-74.92	-0.60%
	S&P 500	1,317.82	-2.86	-0.22%
	NASD	2,837.53	-1.85	-0.07%

EXM	$0.89		-0.02	-2.21%
Excel Maritime Car…		CAPS Rating:

EGLE	$3.69		+0.17	+4.83%
Eagle Bulk Shippin…		CAPS Rating:

DSX	$8.25		+0.27	+3.38%
Diana Shipping, In…		CAPS Rating:

DRYS	$2.29		+0.04	+1.78%
DryShips, Inc.		CAPS Rating:

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5-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Excel Maritime

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Report this Comment On March 29, 2011, at 12:27 PM, psl8er wrote:

Report this Comment On March 29, 2011, at 12:38 PM, eganfrank wrote:

Report this Comment On April 01, 2011, at 11:52 AM, naughtyguy wrote:

Report this Comment On April 01, 2011, at 3:27 PM, Market123 wrote:

Report this Comment On April 15, 2011, at 9:04 PM, imacg5 wrote:

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