DS Smith (SMDS) 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 businesses based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability and earnings.

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.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer 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%

Is SMDS or SKG more profitable?

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

Do analysts rate SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith presently has a consensus price target of GBX 386.75, suggesting a potential upside of 1.51%. Smurfit Kappa Group has a consensus price target of GBX 4,015, suggesting a potential upside of 5.10%. Given Smurfit Kappa Group'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

Does the media favor SMDS or SKG?

In the previous week, Smurfit Kappa Group had 2 more articles in the media than DS Smith. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Smurfit Kappa Group and 1 mentions for DS Smith. DS Smith's average media sentiment score of 0.59 beat Smurfit Kappa Group's score of 0.00 indicating that DS Smith is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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)	Positive
Smurfit Kappa Group	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of SMDS or SKG?

83.1% of DS Smith shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.8% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of DS Smith shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, SMDS or SKG?

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

Which has better earnings & valuation, 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

Summary

Smurfit Kappa Group beats DS Smith on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.