Critical Contrast: Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW)

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) and Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.9% of Ranpak shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Ranpak shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ranpak has a beta of 3.11, indicating that its stock price is 211% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Smurfit Westrock and Ranpak, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smurfit Westrock	1	1	11	0	2.77
Ranpak	1	1	2	0	2.25

Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus target price of $55.15, indicating a potential upside of 22.11%. Ranpak has a consensus target price of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 4.01%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Ranpak.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Ranpak”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smurfit Westrock	$31.18 billion	0.76	$699.00 million	$0.89	50.75
Ranpak	$395.00 million	0.73	-$38.30 million	($0.40)	-8.41

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smurfit Westrock	1.50%	4.27%	1.71%
Ranpak	-8.28%	-6.65%	-3.15%

Summary

Smurfit Westrock beats Ranpak on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Ranpak

Ranpak Holdings Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides product protection solutions and end-of-line automation solutions for e-commerce and industrial supply chains in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company offers protective packaging solutions, such as void-fill protective systems that convert paper to fill empty spaces in secondary packages and protect objects under the FillPak brand; cushioning protective systems, which convert paper into cushioning pads under the PadPak brand; and wrapping protective systems that create pads or paper mesh to wrap and protect fragile items, as well as to line boxes and provide separation when shipping various objects under the WrapPak, Geami, and ReadyRoll brands, as well as cold chain products, which are used to provide insulation for goods. It also offers end-of-line packaging automation products, which help end users automate the void filling and box closure processes after product packing is complete. The company sells its products to end users primarily through a distributor network, and directly to select end-users. Ranpak Holdings Corp. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Concord Township, Ohio.