Stocks that Float: TANKERS & DRY BULK SHIPPERS

[xanadu90]

SFL $27.65 Ship Finance (SFL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), which owns and operates vessels and offshore related assets, has been upgraded to buy. The company's gross profit margin is very high at 79% and its net profit margin of 43% significantly outperforms the industry average. Net operating cash flow has increased 16% to $41.4 million from the year-ago quarter.

For the fourth quarter, revenue dropped 4.3% to $122.3 million, and earnings per share declined 8.9% to 72 cents. The company has suffered a declining pattern of earnings per share over the past two years. However, for 2008, the market expects an improvement in full-year EPS to $2.39 from $2.30 in 2007. After a year of fluctuations, share price is about where it was a year ago. This has resulted in a P/E of 12.12, which makes the cheaper than the industry average. Ship Finance had been rated hold since July 27.