Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) Competitors

DS Smith (LON:SMDS) and Smurfit Kappa Group (LON:SKG) are both mid-cap consumer cyclical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership and risk.

Is SMDS or SKG a better dividend stock?

DS Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Smurfit Kappa Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 131 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. DS Smith pays out 5,454.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Smurfit Kappa Group pays out 5,282.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in SMDS or SKG?

83.1% of DS Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.8% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of DS Smith shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith presently has a consensus target price of GBX 386.75, indicating a potential upside of 1.51%. Smurfit Kappa Group has a consensus target price of GBX 4,015, indicating a potential upside of 5.10%. Given DS Smith's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Smurfit Kappa Group is more favorable than DS Smith.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DS Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Smurfit Kappa Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more risk and volatility, SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Kappa Group has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SMDS or SKG more profitable?

Smurfit Kappa Group has a net margin of 6.72% compared to Smurfit Kappa Group's net margin of 6.37%. DS Smith's return on equity of 14.31% beat Smurfit Kappa Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DS Smith	6.37%	10.77%	4.39%
Smurfit Kappa Group	6.72%	14.31%	6.89%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith received 424 more outperform votes than Smurfit Kappa Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.62% of users gave Smurfit Kappa Group an outperform vote while only 67.06% of users gave DS Smith an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
DS Smith	Outperform Votes 676 67.06%	Underperform Votes 332 32.94%
Smurfit Kappa Group	Outperform Votes 252 72.62%	Underperform Votes 95 27.38%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, SMDS or SKG?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
DS Smith	£7.43B	0.71	£463M	£0.33	1,154.55
Smurfit Kappa Group	£11.27B	0.89	£758M	£2.48	1,540.32

Does the media refer more to SMDS or SKG?

In the previous week, Smurfit Kappa Group had 1 more articles in the media than DS Smith. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Smurfit Kappa Group and 1 mentions for DS Smith. Smurfit Kappa Group's average media sentiment score of 0.00 equaled DS Smith'saverage media sentiment score.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
DS Smith	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Smurfit Kappa Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Smurfit Kappa Group beats DS Smith on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.