Smurfit Westrock (SW) Competitors

Ball (NYSE:BALL) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) are both large-cap shipping containers companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and media sentiment.

Is BALL or SW more profitable?

Ball has a net margin of 4.49% compared to Smurfit Westrock's net margin of 1.14%. Ball's return on equity of 16.81% beat Smurfit Westrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ball	4.49%	16.81%	5.41%
Smurfit Westrock	1.14%	5.90%	2.36%

Which has more risk & volatility, BALL or SW?

Ball has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer BALL or SW?

Ball presently has a consensus price target of $65.27, suggesting a potential upside of 22.73%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus price target of $58.00, suggesting a potential upside of 35.89%. Given Smurfit Westrock's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly 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)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45
Smurfit Westrock	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Is BALL or SW a better dividend stock?

Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Ball pays out 41.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Smurfit Westrock pays out 260.6% 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 insiders and institutionals 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. 0.6% 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 hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable 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	1.23	$4.01B	$1.93	27.56
Smurfit Westrock	$21.11B	1.06	$319M	$0.66	64.67

Does the media favor BALL or SW?

In the previous week, Ball had 69 more articles in the media than Smurfit Westrock. MarketBeat recorded 81 mentions for Ball and 12 mentions for Smurfit Westrock. Smurfit Westrock's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Ball's score of 0.61 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	36 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	31 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Smurfit Westrock	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Ball beats Smurfit Westrock on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.