Packaging Co. of America (PKG) Competitors

Packaging Co. of America (NYSE:PKG) and Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Which has more volatility and risk, PKG or GPK?

Packaging Co. of America has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Graphic Packaging has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PKG or GPK more profitable?

Packaging Co. of America has a net margin of 9.60% compared to Graphic Packaging's net margin of 7.47%. Graphic Packaging's return on equity of 25.96% beat Packaging Co. of America's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Packaging Co. of America	9.60%	19.67%	9.19%
Graphic Packaging	7.47%	25.96%	6.81%

Do analysts prefer PKG or GPK?

Packaging Co. of America currently has a consensus target price of $233.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.86%. Graphic Packaging has a consensus target price of $31.37, indicating a potential upside of 21.68%. Given Graphic Packaging's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Graphic Packaging is more favorable than Packaging Co. of America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Packaging Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
Graphic Packaging	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, PKG or GPK?

Packaging Co. of America has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Graphic Packaging. Graphic Packaging is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Packaging Co. of America, 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
Packaging Co. of America	$8.38B	2.14	$805.10M	$8.93	22.33
Graphic Packaging	$8.81B	0.88	$658M	$2.16	11.93

Do insiders and institutionals believe in PKG or GPK?

89.8% of Packaging Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of Graphic Packaging shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Packaging Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Graphic Packaging shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor PKG or GPK?

In the previous week, Packaging Co. of America had 2 more articles in the media than Graphic Packaging. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Packaging Co. of America and 20 mentions for Graphic Packaging. Packaging Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Graphic Packaging's score of 0.68 indicating that Packaging Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Packaging Co. of America	18 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Graphic Packaging	9 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is PKG or GPK a better dividend stock?

Packaging Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Graphic Packaging pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Packaging Co. of America pays out 56.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Graphic Packaging pays out 20.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PKG or GPK?

Packaging Co. of America received 19 more outperform votes than Graphic Packaging when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.90% of users gave Graphic Packaging an outperform vote while only 59.27% of users gave Packaging Co. of America an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Packaging Co. of America	Outperform Votes 534 59.27%	Underperform Votes 367 40.73%
Graphic Packaging	Outperform Votes 515 63.90%	Underperform Votes 291 36.10%

Summary

Packaging Co. of America beats Graphic Packaging on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.