Smurfit Westrock (SW) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate BALL or SW?

Ball presently has a consensus price target of $65.27, indicating a potential upside of 21.60%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus price target of $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 32.61%. Given Smurfit Westrock's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Ball.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ball	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45
Smurfit Westrock	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of BALL or SW?

86.5% of Ball shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Ball shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is BALL or SW more profitable?

Ball has a net margin of 4.49% compared to Smurfit Westrock's net margin of 1.14%. Ball's return on equity of 16.81% beat Smurfit Westrock's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ball	4.49%	16.81%	5.41%
Smurfit Westrock	1.14%	5.90%	2.36%

Which has more risk & volatility, BALL or SW?

Ball has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is BALL or SW a better dividend stock?

Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Ball pays out 41.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Smurfit Westrock pays out 260.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, BALL or SW?

Ball has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
Ball	$11.80B	1.24	$4.01B	$1.93	27.81
Smurfit Westrock	$21.11B	1.08	$319M	$0.66	66.27

Does the media refer more to BALL or SW?

In the previous week, Ball had 52 more articles in the media than Smurfit Westrock. MarketBeat recorded 70 mentions for Ball and 18 mentions for Smurfit Westrock. Smurfit Westrock's average media sentiment score of 1.52 beat Ball's score of 0.55 indicating that Smurfit Westrock is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ball	28 Very Positive mention(s)	10 Positive mention(s)	24 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Smurfit Westrock	15 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Ball beats Smurfit Westrock on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.