Ball (BALL) Competitors

Ball (NYSE:BALL) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, community ranking, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, earnings and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend BALL or SW?

Ball presently has a consensus target price of $63.30, indicating a potential upside of 25.55%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus target price of $60.70, indicating a potential upside of 33.55%. Given Smurfit Westrock's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Ball.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ball	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55
Smurfit Westrock	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Is BALL or SW more profitable?

Ball has a net margin of 33.98% compared to Smurfit Westrock's net margin of 0.63%. Ball's return on equity of 16.17% beat Smurfit Westrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ball	33.98%	16.17%	5.81%
Smurfit Westrock	0.63%	6.16%	2.42%

Does the media favor BALL or SW?

In the previous week, Ball had 41 more articles in the media than Smurfit Westrock. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for Ball and 18 mentions for Smurfit Westrock. Smurfit Westrock's average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Ball's score of 0.28 indicating that Smurfit Westrock is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ball	15 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	11 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Smurfit Westrock	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, BALL or SW?

Ball has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Smurfit Westrock. Ball is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Westrock, 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
Ball	$11.80B	1.21	$4.01B	$12.66	3.98
Smurfit Westrock	$21.11B	1.12	$319M	$0.55	82.64

Is BALL or SW a better dividend stock?

Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Ball pays out 6.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Smurfit Westrock pays out 312.7% 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 institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BALL or SW?

86.5% of Ball shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Ball shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, BALL or SW?

Ball has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its stock price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in BALL or SW?

Ball received 12 more outperform votes than Smurfit Westrock when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 77.78% of users gave Smurfit Westrock an outperform vote while only 24.53% of users gave Ball an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ball	Outperform Votes 26 24.53%	Underperform Votes 80 75.47%
Smurfit Westrock	Outperform Votes 14 77.78%	Underperform Votes 4 22.22%

Summary

Ball beats Smurfit Westrock on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.