Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) & Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) Financial Review

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) and Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) are both materials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Smurfit Westrock and Ranpak, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smurfit Westrock	1	1	11	0	2.77
Ranpak	1	1	2	0	2.25

Smurfit Westrock currently has a consensus price target of $55.15, suggesting a potential upside of 25.48%. Ranpak has a consensus price target of $3.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.74%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Ranpak.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.9% of Ranpak shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Ranpak shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ranpak has a beta of 3.11, meaning that its share price is 211% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Ranpak’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Smurfit Westrock	1.50%	4.27%	1.71%
Ranpak	-8.28%	-6.65%	-3.15%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Ranpak”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smurfit Westrock	$31.48 billion	0.73	$699.00 million	$0.89	49.39
Ranpak	$395.00 million	0.75	-$38.30 million	($0.40)	-8.60

Smurfit Westrock has higher revenue and earnings than Ranpak. Ranpak is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Westrock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Smurfit Westrock beats Ranpak on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smurfit Westrock

Smurfit Westrock is a global paper-based packaging company formed in 2024 through the combination of Smurfit Kappa Group and WestRock. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, the company serves customers across a range of industries and markets worldwide. Its business includes producing paper and packaging materials, as well as designing and manufacturing packaging for consumer and commercial uses. Products include corrugated packaging, consumer packaging, containerboard, paper sacks and bag-in-box packaging.

About Ranpak

Ranpak Holdings Corp. develops and supplies paper-based protective packaging solutions for businesses that ship products. Its offerings include paper cushioning, wrapping and void-fill materials, along with equipment that converts paper into packaging at fulfillment and manufacturing facilities. The company serves customers in industries including e-commerce, food and beverage, industrial manufacturing and logistics. Its products are designed to protect goods during shipping and provide alternatives to plastic-based packaging.