Analyzing Ball (BALL) and The Competition

Ball (NYSE:BALL) is one of 70 public companies in the “Containers & Packaging” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Ball to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.5% of Ball shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.4% of shares of all “Containers & Packaging” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Ball shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.5% of shares of all “Containers & Packaging” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Ball pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Containers & Packaging” companies pay a dividend yield of 4.7% and pay out -80.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Ball lags its peers as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Ball and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ball	6.61%	18.76%	5.35%
Ball Competitors	-28.70%	-31.74%	2.17%

Volatility and Risk

Ball has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ball’s peers have a beta of 0.80, meaning that their average share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ball and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ball	$13.16 billion	$912.00 million	17.44
Ball Competitors	$6.06 billion	$208.36 million	13.56

Ball has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Ball is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Ball and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ball	1	4	8	0	2.54
Ball Competitors	383	2325	3378	84	2.51

Ball presently has a consensus price target of $71.69, indicating a potential upside of 16.47%. As a group, “Containers & Packaging” companies have a potential upside of 31.26%. Given Ball’s peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ball has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Ball beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

Ball Company Profile

Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages. It also manufactures and sells extruded aluminum aerosol containers, recloseable aluminum bottles, aluminum cups, and aluminum slugs. Ball Corporation was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Westminster, Colorado.