CTRM — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis

Castor Maritime earned $26.8 million in the second quarter of 2026, up from $6.3 million a year earlier. About $23.1 million of that came from marking up its stake in MPC Container Ships (MPCC), a listed company it holds shares in, after MPCC's share price rose about 11% in the quarter. The shipping business did improve. Castor's ships earned an average of $16,700 a day, up from $11,516, and total revenue rose 42.5% to $25.6 million. But most of the headline profit is a gain on the value of an investment, not cash from moving cargo. The company calls itself "a diversified global shipping and energy company." It owns a small fleet of dry-bulk ships (vessels that carry loose cargo such as coal, grain and iron ore) and one containership. Since late 2024 it has also owned MPC Capital, a German ship and energy-asset manager that was renamed MPC Oceanic Group in September 2026.

At a glance

• $16,700 a day. That is the average Daily TCE rate, up 45% from a year ago. It is the cleanest measure of how the ships did, and the gain came from better freight rates, not more ships: the fleet averaged 9.0 vessels against 9.7 a year earlier.
• $23.1 million of a $26.8 million profit was a paper gain. It comes from revaluing Castor's stakes in MPCC and MPC Energy Solutions. Stripping out that gain and other non-cash items, the company's own "adjusted net income" was $11.6 million, against $2.0 million a year ago. That is still a large improvement.
• Cash fell to $109.4 million from $152.8 million at the end of 2025. Castor spent $79.6 million on two nearly new Kamsarmax bulk carriers (a common mid-size dry-bulk ship, about 82,000 tonnes) and paid down $22.3 million of a bank loan early.

The numbers

TCE (time charter equivalent) rate is the shipping industry's standard yardstick. It is what a ship earns per day after paying voyage costs such as fuel and port fees, so ships on different kinds of contracts can be compared like for like. Castor calculates it as vessel revenue minus voyage expenses, divided by the days its ships were available to work. "n/m" means the percentage change isn't meaningful because the base was negative.

What drove the quarter

The ships earned more per day. Vessel revenue rose $4.7 million, and management attributes it "mainly" to "the improvement in prevailing charter rates of our vessels." The fleet's days of work were flat (822 operating days in both quarters), so the whole gain came from price. The rate also kept rising during the year: Q1 2026's TCE was $14,926, and Q2 was $16,700. Over the first half, the dry-bulk ships alone averaged $14,678 a day against $8,933 a year earlier. The one containership averaged $24,880.

Running the ships cost slightly more per day. Vessel operating expenses (crew, insurance, repairs) were $5,530 per ship per day, up 6.7%. In total they edged down to $4.5 million because Castor owned the ships for fewer days (822, against 883). Voyage expenses almost doubled to $1.2 million, mostly because of higher costs for EU emissions allowances (the carbon permits ships must now buy for voyages touching Europe) and higher brokerage commissions on higher revenue.

The asset-management arm grew, but kept less of each dollar. Revenue from services rose $2.9 million, which the company puts down to $2.2 million more from ship-management fees and $1.2 million more from transaction fees, partly offset by $0.6 million less from investment-management fees. Cost of those services rose faster, from $5.8 million to $8.4 million, because of "higher personnel expenses and commissions." On these two lines alone, the gross margin fell from about 26% to about 21%.

Overhead came down. General and administrative costs fell to $4.6 million from $5.4 million, mainly $0.9 million less in audit and professional fees.

What the headline numbers hide

• The profit is mostly paper. "Net gain from equity method investments measured at fair value" was $23.1 million, against $1.6 million a year ago. That means Castor revalued its MPCC and MPC Energy Solutions shares at market prices. Because Castor puts this line inside operating income, the GAAP operating margin is 96.1%, which says nothing about how the shipping business performed. Without the gains, operating income was about $1.4 million on $25.6 million of revenue, around a 6% margin. The gain also got bigger for a technical reason. From January 1, 2026, Castor started including in its own accounts an entity that holds MPCC shares, so more MPCC shares are now marked to market. Part of that entity belongs to outside investors, which is why $8.3 million of the quarter's profit belongs to "non-controlling interests" (other part-owners of Castor's subsidiaries), against $1.1 million a year ago.
• The year-to-date picture is even more skewed. In the first half, net income was $96.0 million but operating cash flow was $16.8 million. $69.6 million of first-half profit was the same kind of fair-value gain, and $9.1 million more was realized gains from selling listed shares. Cash flow did turn positive, from –$4.0 million in the first half of 2025, and it is roughly in line with adjusted net income of $21.3 million. Neither figure supports the $96 million headline.
• These gains can reverse. MPCC is priced in Norwegian kroner, so Castor's result moves with both MPCC's share price and the NOK/USD exchange rate. In Q2, currency alone cost $2.9 million, booked in "other expenses." In the first half of 2025, the same line items produced a $24.8 million revaluation loss.
• Basic and diluted EPS are far apart. Basic EPS of $1.70 uses 9.66 million common shares. Diluted EPS of $0.31 uses 59.9 million shares. The difference is mainly the $100 million of 5.00% Series D convertible preferred shares, which a subsidiary of Toro Corp. holds; Toro is run by Castor's own chairman and CEO. If those preferred shares became common stock, they would far outnumber today's shares. On October 8, 2026 the two companies agreed to push the earliest conversion date back a year, to January 1, 2028. The diluted figure is the better guide to what each share can claim.
• Last year's comparisons include ship sales. The first half of 2025 included a $5.6 million loss on ships held for sale and a $2.0 million net loss on ship sales. Q2 2025 alone had only a $0.1 million gain on sale, so the quarterly comparison is mostly clean on this point.
• Debt is low relative to the balance sheet. Total debt (including sale-and-leaseback obligations) was $73.8 million at June 30, down from $85.6 million at year-end, with $7.1 million due within a year. That compares with $109.4 million of cash and total assets of $891.3 million. The $15.6 million sale-and-leaseback of the M/V Magic Perseus in January worked like a loan secured on the ship, and it partly offset the early repayment.
• No guidance. Castor gives no revenue or earnings forecast, so there is nothing to compare against.

Takeaway: The real improvement this quarter is the ships earning $16,700 a day instead of $11,516, which lifted adjusted net income to $11.6 million. The $26.8 million headline mostly reflects a rise in MPCC's share price. That part is not cash and can reverse in the next quarter, so look at the TCE rate and operating cash flow rather than headline EPS.

Fleet changes and what comes next

During the quarter Castor renewed its fleet with younger ships. On June 29 it took delivery of the 2023-built M/V Magic Jupiter ($37.5 million) and the 2024-built M/V Magic Saturn ($41.9 million). Most of its other ships were built between 2004 and 2015. After the quarter, on August 6, it put the 2015-built M/V Magic Starlight into a joint venture. Castor received $18.75 million in cash and kept a 30% stake. That ship's earnings will now show up as a share of joint-venture profit rather than as vessel revenue, and Castor has guaranteed the joint venture's $11.5 million loan.

Castor has already locked in fixed rates for several ships for the second half of 2026. Magic Saturn earns $13,400 a day through September and $18,860 from October to December. Magic Perseus earns $17,550 from July to December. Magic Thunder earns $15,000 in Q3 and $16,300 in Q4. Most of the other bulk carriers are paid at a percentage of Baltic Exchange index rates, so they move with the market. Raphaela, the only remaining containership, earns $26,250 a day on a charter due to end between November 2026 and January 2027. Re-chartering it is the main revenue risk in the segment. In its risk factors, the company also lists conflict in the Middle East, including "the outbreak of war in Iran and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz," and disruption in the Red Sea as possible sources of rate swings.

Our view: the locked-in rates for Q3 and Q4 are mostly above or close to the Q1 average of $14,926. With two new ships added and Magic Starlight moved off the books, the dry-bulk business should earn at least as much in the second half as in the first, unless the index-linked ships see a sharp fall in rates. The reported bottom line will still depend mainly on MPCC's share price and the krone. To judge the underlying business in the Q3 release, watch three things: the TCE rate, adjusted net income, and whether the asset-management arm's costs keep rising faster than its revenue.