By Blue Harbinger :
"Here Comes $20 Oil." That was the headline in Barron's this weekend. The article cited the supply side (US fracking and full tilt production from Saudi Arabia and Russia) as the main driver for low oil prices . With that in mind, Tsakos Energy Navigation ( TNP ) is a seaborne oil transportation and storage company that makes more money when oil prices are low and supply is high.
We believe Tsakos has inappropriately sold off because it's a Greek company and it gets lumped in with dissimilar shipping stocks as well (we'll show both of these statistically). Specifically, Tsakos should not have sold off as much with the Greek crisis in recent years because the Greek constitution and government exempt it from paying significant taxes on its international profits, and also because its business is unique compared to other shippers. In our view, both of these have contributed to Tsakos being undervalued in the market.
Additionally, TNP is increasingly profitable, its price-to-earnings is near historical lows, and its assets alone are worth nearly three times its current market valuation. We believe the company's common and preferred shares offer attractive dividend yields, attractive risk-to-reward profiles, and dramatic price appreciation potential.
About Tsakos
Tsakos Energy Navigation is a Greek company (Athens) that trades on the New York Stock Exchange. It is a provider of international seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services. According to the company's website , Tsakos:
Unlike many other industries and companies, TNP's profitability tends to increase when oil prices are low. Additionally, Tsakos benefits from the current oversupply of crude oil around the world because it increases demand for the storage capacity on its ships. According to Barron's , the cost of chartering a crude oil carrier has recently soared as high as $80,000 per day when it was only $20,000 per day in late 2014. Also worth noting, the Greek Constitution of 1967 exempts Greek shipping companies (including Tsakos) from paying taxes on international earnings (this is an important point that we will discuss later).
Correlations
The following table shows the correlation between the price of Tsakos common stock and a variety of other variables such as oil prices, the S&P 500, stocks of the European Monetary Union, and other shipping companies, to name a few (the data is from the beginning of 2013 through the end of last week):
(Data source:Yahoo Finance)
The first thing to notice in the table is the strong negative correlation between the price of oil and the price of Tsakos. The negative correlation makes sense given the nature of Tsakos' business (it makes more money when oil is cheap). Also worth noting, there is a strong positive relationship between Tsakos and the S&P 500, the Eurozone, and a global shipping index (more on these important relationships later). And, for your reference, we also included a variety of other companies (not surprisingly, there is a strong positive relationship between the price of oil and Transocean ( RIG ) (an oil driller), as well as a strong negative relationship between the price of oil and Valero ( VLO ) (an oil refiner)).
Regression Analysis
To dig deeper into the relationships identified in the correlation table above, we ran a linear regression with Tsakos as the dependent variable, and the independent variables included oil, the S&P 500, the Eurozone and shipping companies. What we found is that these independent variables are statistically significant (t-Stats above two, very low P-values) and they are useful in explaining a large portion of Tsakos' stock price (89% R-square).
(Data source:Yahoo Finance)
Tsakos Vs. The S&P 500
As expected, the S&P 500 explains a significant portion of the variability in Tsakos' stock price. This is common for most NYSE stocks, especially when governments and central bankers are more involved in the market (when this is the case, stocks tend to move much more on macroeconomic news than on stock-specific news). We also believe this has contributed to Tsakos being undervalued by the market because the company has sold off more than its individual fundamentals warrant (more on this later). For reference, the S&P 500 is down nearly 10% this year, and TNP (with a beta of around 2) is down significantly more.
Oil And Tsakos
As discussed previously, the inverse relationship between oil and Tsakos makes sense. Tsakos' profits go up when oil prices go down because more people want to use TNP's ships for storage (not to mention the cost to operate its ships goes down). We believe oil prices will stay "low for longer" thanks to technological advances (e.g. fracking, oil sands, deepwater drilling). The Barron's article referenced in our intro suggests oil may fall as low as $20 per barrel in the first half of 2016. But the point is that we believe market forces will keep oil low for longer, and this benefits Tsakos enormously, yet its stock price isn't yet reflecting this benefit (more on valuation later).
Eurozone And Greek Austerity
Tsakos also has a strong positive relationship with the Eurozone. To test this, we used the iShares MSCI EMU ETF (EZU) in our correlation table and in our regression model. The relationship between Tsakos and the Eurozone is strongly positive and statistically significant. We believe this is an important consideration because Tsakos sells off when the Eurozone sells off, and this should not necessarily be the case. TNP's profitability is not nearly as dependent on Eurozone as other Eurozone companies because of its large global customer base.
(Source:Investor presentation)
Further, Tsakos is exempted from paying significant taxes on international profits by the Greek constitution and government. And if taxes were to increase significantly, the company (and other shippers) could easily relocate (something they frequently threaten). To a large extent, this means Greek austerity should not impact Tsakos as much as other Greek/Eurozone companies, and TNP should not sell off as much every time the Greek crisis flares up, but it does. We believe this dynamic causes Tsakos to be undervalued (more on valuation later). For reference, the Eurozone has dramatically underperformed the S&P 500 over the last five years.
Shipping Companies
There is also a strong, statistically significant correlation between the price of Tsakos and other shipping companies as measured by the Dow Jones Global Shipping Index (we used ticker [[SEA]] to test this). This should not necessarily be the case because of the uniqueness of Tsakos' business. Other shipping companies ship a variety of non-petroleum related products. However, because TNP gets lumped in with other shippers, it sells off right along with them. We believe this is another contributor to Tsakos being undervalued by the market (i.e. because of TNP's uniqueness, it should not have sold off right along with other shippers).
Price-To-Earnings (P/E): On a P/E basis, Tsakos is cheap. As of year-end, the P/E was 6.9 times, and it currently sits around 3.6 times. The following charts show TNP's historical revenues, net income, price, P/E and the price of oil:
(Data source:YCharts)
(Data source:Yahoo Finance)
Despite Tsakos' recent growth in quarterly revenues and net income, the share price and P/E sit near historically low levels (note: the historical prices have been adjusted for dividends and stock splits). Worth noting, its net income has turned sharply positive over the last year, whereas the net income of some of its peers (i.e. Aegean Marine ( ANW ) and Nordic American ( NAT )) still remains relatively smaller. Additionally, Tsakos' P/E (3.6x) is more attractive than these same peers (9.8x and 11.9x, respectively).
(Data source:Google Finance)
Price To Net Assets: On a price-to-net-asset basis, Tsakos is very attractive. Its current market value is only one-third of the value of its net assets (assets minus liabilities). Tsakos' management acknowledges this apparent mispricing on page 5 of its most recent annual report :
If the company trades at simply the value of its net assets, it would trade at over $15 per share, roughly three times its current stock price.
Regression Valuation: As another method of gauging Tsakos' relative value, we can simply plug in the current market prices of the variables in our regression model above. The result is just a rough estimate (remember the R-square is 88%), but even by this model, Tsakos has 20% upside versus its current stock price.
High Dividend Yields: Tsakos' Common And Preferred Stock
Worth noting, in addition to the common stock, Tsakos offers preferred shares as detailed in the table below. The preferred shares have impressive dividend yields, and potentially may be redeemed at $25 per share within the next 2.5 to 4.5 years.
(Data source:Yield Hunter)
We believe Tsakos will remain a going concern (it won't default on its debt or preferred share payments), and its common and preferred shares have dramatic price appreciation potential.
Risks: Tsakos faces a variety of risks. Some of the more significant risks are described below.
High Debt Levels: High debt levels pose a risk for Tsakos. While the company has worked to bring its debt under control in recent years (by issuing more equity and retiring some debt), the company's high debt load increases risk.
(Source:Google Finance)
As mentioned previously, we believe TNP will remain a going concern (i.e. it won't default on its debts). Additionally, the fact that the company has been able to raise additional capital in recent years via equity offers suggests those equity owners have faith in its future earnings power.
Oil Prices: A sharp increase in oil prices would likely result in less demand for Tsakos tankers. For example, speculators using TNP's ships for storage would likely sell their reserves quickly, thus reducing demand for Tsakos' ships. Generally, the price of oil can be as unpredictable as it is volatile, but Tsakos has the ability to be strongly profitable even when oil prices average as high as $72 per barrel as they did during the fourth quarter of 2014 (TNP had over $13 million in profits during that quarter, and continued to pay its dividends as well).
Tax Law Changes: Tax law changes are another risk faced by Tsakos. For example, Greece could change its constitution to allow for taxation of Tsakos' international profits. While this seems unlikely, anything is possible given the level of distress in the Greek economy. As another example, the executive branch of the US federal government recently proposed a $10 per barrel tax on oil. While this proposal was promptly rejected by the legislative branch, any future tax changes could have unintended consequences in the market.
Excess Capacity: Tsakos' new ships under construction pose the risk of excess capacity. Too much transportation and storage capacity (whether from Tsakos or competitors) could reduce profitability in the industry.
Analyst Ratings
Worth noting, Tsakos tends to be highly rated among brokerage firms. For example, the following table from TNP's most recent investor presentation demonstrates the Street's opinion of the stock.
Also worth noting, the company's stock price has recently come down significantly since these rating were released, potentially making now an even more attractive entry point from a valuation standpoint.
Conclusion
We like Tsakos. It makes money when oil prices are low and supply is high (i.e. current market conditions). Its net income has been ramping up in recent quarters, but its stock price has not. We believe oil prices will stay low for longer due to the technological advances (e.g. fracking, oil sands, and deepwater drilling). However, Tsakos has demonstrated the ability to be profitable at considerably higher oil prices. Additionally, we believe the stock has been unfairly beaten up for being part of the Greek/Eurozone drama and because it gets lumped in (and inappropriately sells off) with other shipping stocks. We believe the common and preferred shares offer attractive dividend yields, attractive risk-to-reward profiles, and dramatic price appreciation potential.
See also Chesapeake Utilities' (CPK) CEO Mike McMasters on Q4 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript on seekingalpha.com
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
