Critical Review: Smurfit Westrock (SW) and Its Competitors

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) is one of 70 public companies in the “Containers & Packaging” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Smurfit Westrock to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.4% of shares of all “Containers & Packaging” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.5% of shares of all “Containers & Packaging” companies 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Smurfit Westrock and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smurfit Westrock	0	2	11	0	2.85
Smurfit Westrock Competitors	381	2318	3367	84	2.51

Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus price target of $57.62, indicating a potential upside of 19.45%. As a group, “Containers & Packaging” companies have a potential upside of 29.43%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smurfit Westrock	$31.18 billion	$699.00 million	51.31
Smurfit Westrock Competitors	$8.00 billion	$208.36 million	14.44

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

Risk and Volatility

Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock’s rivals have a beta of 0.80, meaning that their average share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smurfit Westrock	1.59%	4.60%	1.85%
Smurfit Westrock Competitors	-28.76%	-31.82%	2.15%

Dividends

Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Smurfit Westrock pays out 192.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Containers & Packaging” companies pay a dividend yield of 5.1% and pay out -106.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Smurfit Westrock lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Summary

Smurfit Westrock beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Smurfit Westrock Company Profile

Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box. It also produces linerboard and corrugated medium, paperboard, and non-packaging grades of paper, as well as converted products, such as folding cartons and corrugated boxes, and other products; recycled paper-based packaging products; and packaging machinery. The company primarily serves food and beverage, e-commerce, retail, consumer goods, industrial, and foodservice markets. Smurfit Westrock Plc was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.