GreenFirst Forest Products (OTCMKTS:ICLTF) and Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) Financial Analysis

GreenFirst Forest Products (OTCMKTS:ICLTF) and Mercer International (NASDAQ:MERC) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for GreenFirst Forest Products and Mercer International, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GreenFirst Forest Products	0	0	0	0	0.00
Mercer International	4	2	0	0	1.33

Mercer International has a consensus price target of $1.20, suggesting a potential upside of 84.62%. Given Mercer International’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mercer International is more favorable than GreenFirst Forest Products.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

85.8% of Mercer International shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Mercer International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares GreenFirst Forest Products and Mercer International’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GreenFirst Forest Products	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mercer International	-28.51%	-136.20%	-13.64%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares GreenFirst Forest Products and Mercer International”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GreenFirst Forest Products	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mercer International	$1.85 billion	0.02	-$497.89 million	($7.89)	-0.08

GreenFirst Forest Products has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Mercer International.

Summary

Mercer International beats GreenFirst Forest Products on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GreenFirst Forest Products

GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. engages in the manufacture and sale of forest products in Canada, and the United States. It operates in two segments, Forest Products and Paper Products. The Forest Products segment manufactures and markets a range of spruce-pine-fir lumber, wood chips, and other by-products for use in residential and multi-family homes, light industrial and commercial facilities, and the home repair and remodel markets. The Paper Products segment engages in the manufacture and marketing of paper products that are used to print newspapers, advertising materials, food service bags, and other publications. The company was formerly known as Itasca Capital Ltd. and changed its name to GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. in January 2021. GreenFirst Forest Products Inc. is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About Mercer International

Mercer International Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells northern bleached softwood kraft (NBSK) and northern bleached hardwood kraft (NBHK) pulp worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Pulp and Solid Wood. It manufactures, sells, and distributes pulp, electricity, and chemicals through pulp mills. The company also manufactures, distributes, and sells lumber, cross-laminated timber, finger joint lumber, glue-laminated timber, wood pallets, electricity, biofuels, and wood residuals. In addition, it generates and sells green energy produced from biomass cogeneration power plant to third party. Further, it produces and sells NBSK pulp manufactured from softwood; green energy using carbon-neutral biofuels, such as black liquor and wood waste; tall oil from black liquor for use as a chemical additive and green energy source; bio extractives and biomaterials, including lignin, turpentine, cellulose filaments, and sandalwood oil; and biofuels; as well as provides transportation and logistics services. The company sells its pulp to pulp markets, integrated paper and paperboard manufacturers; and lumber products to distributors, construction firms, secondary manufacturers, retail yards, and home centers. Mercer International Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.