SON vs. GPK, PKG, ZWS, CWST, ADT, MSM, MLI, TKR, SLGN, and FLS
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), Casella Waste Systems (CWST), ADT (ADT), MSC Industrial Direct (MSM), Mueller Industries (MLI), Timken (TKR), Silgan (SLGN), and Flowserve (FLS). These companies are all part of the "industrial products" sector.
Graphic Packaging (NYSE:GPK) and Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) are both mid-cap industrial products companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.
In the previous week, Graphic Packaging had 7 more articles in the media than Sonoco Products. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Graphic Packaging and 4 mentions for Sonoco Products. Sonoco Products' average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Graphic Packaging's score of 0.98 indicating that Graphic Packaging is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Graphic Packaging pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Graphic Packaging pays out 17.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sonoco Products pays out 42.5% 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 has increased its dividend for 42 consecutive years. Sonoco Products is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Graphic Packaging has a net margin of 7.67% compared to Graphic Packaging's net margin of 7.00%. Sonoco Products' return on equity of 35.66% beat Graphic Packaging's return on equity.
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.
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.
Graphic Packaging presently has a consensus price target of $28.44, indicating a potential upside of 3.77%. Sonoco Products has a consensus price target of $63.00, indicating a potential upside of 11.29%. Given Graphic Packaging's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Graphic Packaging.
99.7% of Graphic Packaging shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Graphic Packaging shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Sonoco Products shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Graphic Packaging has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Graphic Packaging beats Sonoco Products on 14 of the 21 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.
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.
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