DS Smith (SMDS) Competitors

DS Smith (LON:SMDS) and Smurfit Kappa Group (LON:SKG) are both mid-cap consumer cyclical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and community ranking.

Is SMDS or SKG a better dividend stock?

DS Smith pays an annual dividend of GBX 18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Kappa Group pays an annual dividend of GBX 131 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. DS Smith pays out 5,454.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Smurfit Kappa Group pays out 5,282.3% 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 institutionals & insiders believe in SMDS or SKG?

83.1% of DS Smith shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.8% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of DS Smith shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith received 425 more outperform votes than Smurfit Kappa Group when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.62% of users gave Smurfit Kappa Group an outperform vote while only 67.10% of users gave DS Smith an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
DS Smith	Outperform Votes 677 67.10%	Underperform Votes 332 32.90%
Smurfit Kappa Group	Outperform Votes 252 72.62%	Underperform Votes 95 27.38%

Does the media prefer SMDS or SKG?

In the previous week, DS Smith had 4 more articles in the media than Smurfit Kappa Group. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for DS Smith and 0 mentions for Smurfit Kappa Group. DS Smith's average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat Smurfit Kappa Group's score of 0.00 indicating that DS Smith is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
DS Smith	Neutral
Smurfit Kappa Group	Neutral

Do analysts recommend SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith presently has a consensus price target of GBX 391.67, suggesting a potential downside of 14.18%. Smurfit Kappa Group has a consensus price target of GBX 4,015, suggesting a potential upside of 9.82%. Given Smurfit Kappa Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Smurfit Kappa Group is more favorable than DS Smith.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
DS Smith	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Smurfit Kappa Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is SMDS or SKG more profitable?

Smurfit Kappa Group has a net margin of 6.72% compared to DS Smith's net margin of 6.37%. Smurfit Kappa Group's return on equity of 14.31% beat DS Smith's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
DS Smith	6.37%	10.77%	4.39%
Smurfit Kappa Group	6.72%	14.31%	6.89%

Which has more risk and volatility, SMDS or SKG?

DS Smith has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Kappa Group has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, SMDS or SKG?

Smurfit Kappa Group has higher revenue and earnings than DS Smith. DS Smith is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Kappa Group, 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
DS Smith	£7.43B	0.85	£463M	£0.33	1,383.03
Smurfit Kappa Group	£11.27B	0.85	£758M	£2.48	1,474.19

Summary

Smurfit Kappa Group beats DS Smith on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.