Sonoco Products (SON) Competitors

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

Is PKG or SON 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%. Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Packaging Co. of America pays out 56.0% 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.

Which has more risk & volatility, PKG or SON?

Packaging Co. of America has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in PKG or SON?

89.8% of Packaging Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Packaging Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Sonoco Products shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor PKG or SON?

In the previous week, Packaging Co. of America had 15 more articles in the media than Sonoco Products. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Packaging Co. of America and 7 mentions for Sonoco Products. Packaging Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat Sonoco Products' score of 1.30 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
Sonoco Products	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PKG or SON?

Sonoco Products received 139 more outperform votes than Packaging Co. of America when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.10% of users gave Sonoco Products 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%
Sonoco Products	Outperform Votes 673 64.10%	Underperform Votes 377 35.90%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, PKG or SON?

Packaging Co. of America has higher revenue and earnings than Sonoco Products. Packaging Co. of America 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
Packaging Co. of America	$8.38B	2.14	$805.10M	$8.93	22.33
Sonoco Products	$5.31B	0.88	$474.96M	$1.65	28.58

Do analysts prefer PKG or SON?

Packaging Co. of America currently has a consensus price target of $233.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.86%. Sonoco Products has a consensus price target of $58.50, suggesting a potential upside of 24.07%. Given Sonoco Products' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sonoco Products 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
Sonoco Products	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is PKG or SON more profitable?

Packaging Co. of America has a net margin of 9.60% compared to Sonoco Products' net margin of 2.60%. Sonoco Products' return on equity of 20.81% 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%
Sonoco Products	2.60%	20.81%	5.59%

Summary

Packaging Co. of America beats Sonoco Products on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.