Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) & Crown (NYSE:CCK) Head-To-Head Survey

Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) and Crown (NYSE:CCK) are both large-cap materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Smurfit Westrock and Crown, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Smurfit Westrock	0	2	11	0	2.85
Crown	0	6	11	0	2.65

Smurfit Westrock presently has a consensus price target of $57.69, indicating a potential upside of 25.64%. Crown has a consensus price target of $128.20, indicating a potential upside of 11.21%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Crown.

Profitability

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Crown’s 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%
Crown	5.91%	27.33%	6.52%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.9% of Crown shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Crown shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Crown pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. 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. Crown pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crown has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Smurfit Westrock and Crown”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Smurfit Westrock	$31.18 billion	0.77	$699.00 million	$0.94	48.85
Crown	$13.26 billion	0.95	$738.00 million	$6.95	16.59

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

Volatility & Risk

Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crown has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Crown beats Smurfit Westrock on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Smurfit Westrock

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.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures. It also provides manual, semi-automatic, and automatic equipment and tools to apply and remove consumables, such as straps and films; protective solutions, including airbags, edge protectors, and honeycomb products; and steel and plastic consumables include steel strap, plastic strap, industrial film, and other related products. The company serves food industries, including pet food, personal care, household, and industrial products. Crown Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Yardley, Pennsylvania.