Financial Survey: Intertape Polymer Group (OTCMKTS:ITPOF) versus Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW)

Intertape Polymer Group (OTCMKTS:ITPOF) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Intertape Polymer Group pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Intertape Polymer Group pays out -453.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Smurfit Westrock pays out 192.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Volatility & Risk

Intertape Polymer Group has a beta of 1.96, suggesting that its share price is 96% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Intertape Polymer Group and Smurfit Westrock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intertape Polymer Group	-0.50%	35.79%	9.19%
Smurfit Westrock	1.59%	4.60%	1.85%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Intertape Polymer Group and Smurfit Westrock”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intertape Polymer Group	$1.53 billion	1.22	$67.81 million	($0.15)	-209.33
Smurfit Westrock	$31.18 billion	0.81	$699.00 million	$0.94	51.31

Smurfit Westrock has higher revenue and earnings than Intertape Polymer Group. Intertape Polymer Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Westrock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Intertape Polymer Group and Smurfit Westrock, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intertape Polymer Group	0	0	0	0	0.00
Smurfit Westrock	0	2	11	0	2.85

Smurfit Westrock has a consensus target price of $57.62, indicating a potential upside of 19.45%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Intertape Polymer Group.

Summary

Smurfit Westrock beats Intertape Polymer Group on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Intertape Polymer Group

Intertape Polymer Group Inc. provides packaging and protective solutions for the industrial markets in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers pressure-sensitive and water-activated tapes; packaging equipment; industrial and performance specialty tapes, such as masking, duct, electrical, foil, process indicator, sheathing, sports, and reinforced filament tapes; protective packaging solutions, including inflatable systems, mailer products, bubble cushioning, paper void fills, thermal solutions, and protective foam roll stocks; stencil products; shrink films; stretch and lumber wraps; structure and geomembrane fabrics; non-manufactured flexible intermediate bulk containers; specialized polyolefin films; and engineered coated products for industrial and retail use. It sells its products through various distribution channels. The company serves food and beverage, general manufacturing, fulfillment/e-commerce, retail and transportation, building and construction, consumer, oil and gas, aerospace, marine, composites, moving and storage, general manufacturing, mailing, HVAC, and military and medical applications. Intertape Polymer Group Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Saint-Laurent, Canada.

About Smurfit Westrock

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box. It also produces linerboard and corrugated medium, paperboard, and non-packaging grades of paper, as well as converted products, such as folding cartons and corrugated boxes, and other products; recycled paper-based packaging products; and packaging machinery. The company primarily serves food and beverage, e-commerce, retail, consumer goods, industrial, and foodservice markets. Smurfit Westrock Plc was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.