Dry Bulk Winners & Losers: Euroseas

Burk thinks Euroseas shares -- and most shipping stocks for that matter, whether dry-bulk or tanker -- have advanced too much too fast. (Euroseas is up 13.6% since Dec. 31).

He also believes that the company's recent investment in a container-ship outfit will dilute earnings, at least in the near term. (But, he added, "I think it will work out for them the long run.")

Euroseas shares ended trading Friday at $4.31, down 3%, paring earlier losses.

Container-ship investments by companies that haul huge piles of grain and ore appear to be de rigueur. Diana Shipping (DSX) announced on Friday that it, too, had bought a minority stake in a container shipper, spending $50 million. On a day when the broader equities markets were falling sharply, Diana's stock was one of the few names in the green, though ever so slightly, closing the session up 4 cents at $16.09.

A bullish call Friday by Credit Suisse (CS) analyst Gregg Lewis perhaps helped buoy Diana shares. Though he left his rating on Diana stock at outperform and his price target at $20, he lifted his 2010 earnings forecast to $1.67 a share from $1.49, based largely on the company's well-known ship-acquisition plan, as well as a savvy chartering strategy.

Elsewhere, DryShips (DRYS) shares closed down 2.3% Friday at $6.28. Investors were still awaiting word from the company that it has, at long last, signed a contract to lease out one or two of the offshore oil-drilling ships it has commissioned for construction -- part of an ambitious plan to enter the marine energy business.

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