Ball (BALL) Competitors

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

Does the media favor SW or BALL?

In the previous week, Ball had 10 more articles in the media than Smurfit Westrock. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Ball and 26 mentions for Smurfit Westrock. Smurfit Westrock's average media sentiment score of 1.17 beat Ball's score of 0.45 indicating that Smurfit Westrock is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Smurfit Westrock	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ball	13 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, SW or BALL?

Ball has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
Smurfit Westrock	$21.11B	1.02	$319M	$0.55	75.06
Ball	$11.80B	1.23	$4.01B	$12.66	4.06

Which has more risk & volatility, SW or BALL?

Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Ball has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SW or BALL a better dividend stock?

Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Smurfit Westrock pays out 312.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ball pays out 6.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in SW or BALL?

83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Ball shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Ball shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SW or BALL?

Ball received 13 more outperform votes than Smurfit Westrock when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 71.43% of users gave Smurfit Westrock an outperform vote while only 25.69% of users gave Ball an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Smurfit Westrock	Outperform Votes 15 71.43%	Underperform Votes 6 28.57%
Ball	Outperform Votes 28 25.69%	Underperform Votes 81 74.31%

Is SW or BALL more profitable?

Ball has a net margin of 33.98% compared to Smurfit Westrock's net margin of 0.63%. Ball's return on equity of 16.17% beat Smurfit Westrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smurfit Westrock	0.63%	6.16%	2.42%
Ball	33.98%	16.17%	5.81%

Do analysts prefer SW or BALL?

Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus price target of $58.70, indicating a potential upside of 42.18%. Ball has a consensus price target of $59.78, indicating a potential upside of 16.42%. Given Smurfit Westrock's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Ball.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smurfit Westrock	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Ball	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Summary

Ball beats Smurfit Westrock on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.