Ball (BALL) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend BALL or SW?

Ball presently has a consensus price target of $65.25, indicating a potential upside of 27.06%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus price target of $60.70, indicating a potential upside of 14.17%. Given Ball's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ball is more favorable than Smurfit Westrock.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ball	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
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%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, 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	1.30	$4.01B	$12.66	4.06
Smurfit Westrock	$21.11B	1.31	$319M	$0.55	96.67

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 3.2%. 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.

Does the media prefer BALL or SW?

In the previous week, Ball had 24 more articles in the media than Smurfit Westrock. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for Ball and 22 mentions for Smurfit Westrock. Smurfit Westrock's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Ball's score of 0.35 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	11 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Smurfit Westrock	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, BALL or SW?

Ball has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BALL or SW?

Ball received 13 more outperform votes than Smurfit Westrock when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 76.47% 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 13 76.47%	Underperform Votes 4 23.53%

Summary

Ball beats Smurfit Westrock on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.