Sonoco Products (SON) Competitors

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

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

77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.8% of Packaging Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Packaging Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility & risk, SON or PKG?

Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Packaging Co. of America has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate SON or PKG?

Sonoco Products currently has a consensus price target of $56.43, indicating a potential upside of 32.89%. Packaging Co. of America has a consensus price target of $231.60, indicating a potential upside of 24.21%. Given Sonoco Products' higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Packaging Co. of America.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sonoco Products	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Packaging Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is SON or PKG 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
Sonoco Products	2.60%	20.81%	5.59%
Packaging Co. of America	9.60%	19.67%	9.19%

Does the media prefer SON or PKG?

In the previous week, Sonoco Products had 4 more articles in the media than Packaging Co. of America. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for Sonoco Products and 27 mentions for Packaging Co. of America. Packaging Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Sonoco Products' score of 0.80 indicating that Packaging Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Sonoco Products	21 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Packaging Co. of America	18 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is SON or PKG a better dividend stock?

Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%. Packaging Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $5.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Sonoco Products pays out 128.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Packaging Co. of America pays out 52.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SON or PKG?

Sonoco Products received 138 more outperform votes than Packaging Co. of America when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.14% of users gave Sonoco Products an outperform vote while only 59.38% of users gave Packaging Co. of America an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Sonoco Products	Outperform Votes 676 64.14%	Underperform Votes 378 35.86%
Packaging Co. of America	Outperform Votes 538 59.38%	Underperform Votes 368 40.62%

Which has better earnings and valuation, SON or PKG?

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
Sonoco Products	$5.31B	0.79	$474.96M	$1.65	25.74
Packaging Co. of America	$8.54B	1.96	$805.10M	$9.56	19.50

Summary

Packaging Co. of America beats Sonoco Products on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.