Sonoco Products (SON) Competitors

Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) and Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) are both mid-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in GPK or SON?

Sonoco Products received 158 more outperform votes than Graphic Packaging when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.22% of users gave Sonoco Products an outperform vote while only 63.98% of users gave Graphic Packaging an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Graphic Packaging	Outperform Votes 515 63.98%	Underperform Votes 290 36.02%
Sonoco Products	Outperform Votes 673 64.22%	Underperform Votes 375 35.78%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, GPK or SON?

Graphic Packaging has higher revenue and earnings than Sonoco Products. Graphic Packaging is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sonoco Products, 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
Graphic Packaging	$8.81B	0.92	$658M	$2.16	12.55
Sonoco Products	$5.31B	0.87	$474.96M	$1.65	28.41

Which has more risk & volatility, GPK or SON?

Graphic Packaging has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to GPK or SON?

In the previous week, Sonoco Products had 7 more articles in the media than Graphic Packaging. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Sonoco Products and 8 mentions for Graphic Packaging. Graphic Packaging's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat Sonoco Products' score of 0.14 indicating that Graphic Packaging is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Graphic Packaging	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Sonoco Products	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts recommend GPK or SON?

Graphic Packaging currently has a consensus target price of $31.70, suggesting a potential upside of 16.98%. Sonoco Products has a consensus target price of $58.83, suggesting a potential upside of 25.51%. Given Sonoco Products' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Graphic Packaging.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Graphic Packaging	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Sonoco Products	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of GPK or SON?

99.7% of Graphic Packaging shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Graphic Packaging shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Sonoco Products shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is GPK or SON a better dividend stock?

Graphic Packaging pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Graphic Packaging pays out 18.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sonoco Products pays out 126.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is GPK or SON more profitable?

Graphic Packaging has a net margin of 7.47% compared to Sonoco Products' net margin of 2.60%. Graphic Packaging's return on equity of 25.96% beat Sonoco Products' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Graphic Packaging	7.47%	25.96%	6.81%
Sonoco Products	2.60%	20.81%	5.59%

Summary

Graphic Packaging beats Sonoco Products on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.