SON vs. GPK, PKG, ZWS, MSM, ADT, SLGN, TKR, FLS, FELE, and SEE
Should you be buying Sonoco Products stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Sonoco Products include Graphic Packaging (GPK), Packaging Co. of America (PKG), Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (ZWS), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), ADT (ADT), Silgan (SLGN), Timken (TKR), Flowserve (FLS), Franklin Electric (FELE), and Sealed Air (SEE). These companies are all part of the "industrial products" sector.
Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) and Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) are both mid-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, profitability, community ranking, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.
Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Graphic Packaging pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Sonoco Products pays out 51.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Graphic Packaging pays out 18.1% 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.
Sonoco Products received 160 more outperform votes than Graphic Packaging when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.31% of users gave Sonoco Products an outperform vote while only 64.08% of users gave Graphic Packaging an outperform vote.
77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of Graphic Packaging shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Sonoco Products shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Graphic Packaging shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Graphic Packaging had 11 more articles in the media than Sonoco Products. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Graphic Packaging and 13 mentions for Sonoco Products. Sonoco Products' average media sentiment score of 0.55 beat Graphic Packaging's score of 0.47 indicating that Sonoco Products is being referred to more favorably in the media.
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.
Sonoco Products currently has a consensus price target of $63.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.21%. Graphic Packaging has a consensus price target of $28.44, indicating a potential upside of 7.30%. Given Sonoco Products' higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Graphic Packaging.
Graphic Packaging has a net margin of 7.36% compared to Sonoco Products' net margin of 5.86%. Graphic Packaging's return on equity of 32.55% beat Sonoco Products' return on equity.
Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Graphic Packaging has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Graphic Packaging beats Sonoco Products on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SON and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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