SON vs. AIT, AMCR, ATR, GEF, PKG, SEE, GPK, UFPT, AVY, and GEF.B
Should you be buying Sonoco Products stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Sonoco Products include Applied Industrial Technologies (AIT), Amcor (AMCR), AptarGroup (ATR), Greif (GEF), Packaging Corporation of America (PKG), Sealed Air (SEE), Graphic Packaging (GPK), UFP Technologies (UFPT), Avery Dennison (AVY), and Greif Bros. (GEF.B). These companies are all part of the "industrials" sector.
Sonoco Products vs. Its Competitors
Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) and Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) are both mid-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.
Applied Industrial Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. Applied Industrial Technologies pays out 18.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sonoco Products pays out 38.0% 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. Applied Industrial Technologies has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Sonoco Products has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.
Applied Industrial Technologies has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sonoco Products. Sonoco Products is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Industrial Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Applied Industrial Technologies has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Applied Industrial Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $285.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.34%. Sonoco Products has a consensus target price of $55.13, indicating a potential upside of 39.56%. Given Sonoco Products' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Applied Industrial Technologies.
In the previous week, Sonoco Products had 6 more articles in the media than Applied Industrial Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Sonoco Products and 6 mentions for Applied Industrial Technologies. Applied Industrial Technologies' average media sentiment score of 0.41 beat Sonoco Products' score of 0.34 indicating that Applied Industrial Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Applied Industrial Technologies has a net margin of 8.61% compared to Sonoco Products' net margin of 8.35%. Applied Industrial Technologies' return on equity of 21.78% beat Sonoco Products' return on equity.
93.5% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Applied Industrial Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Sonoco Products 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.
Summary
Applied Industrial Technologies beats Sonoco Products on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Sonoco Products News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for SON and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
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.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This 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.
Sonoco Products Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
This page (NYSE:SON) was last updated on 10/13/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
