Critical Contrast: Greif (NYSE:GEF) & Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP)

Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) and Greif (NYSE:GEF) are both mid-cap materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ardagh Metal Packaging and Greif”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardagh Metal Packaging	$5.50 billion	0.49	$11.00 million	$0.06	74.75
Greif	$3.93 billion	0.96	$840.00 million	$3.19	25.67

Greif has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ardagh Metal Packaging. Greif is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ardagh Metal Packaging, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Ardagh Metal Packaging pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.9%. Greif pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Ardagh Metal Packaging pays out 666.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Greif pays out 77.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Greif has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ardagh Metal Packaging and Greif, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardagh Metal Packaging	0	6	1	0	2.14
Greif	1	3	1	0	2.00

Ardagh Metal Packaging currently has a consensus target price of $4.83, suggesting a potential upside of 7.77%. Greif has a consensus target price of $83.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.35%. Given Ardagh Metal Packaging’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Ardagh Metal Packaging is more favorable than Greif.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

16.9% of Ardagh Metal Packaging shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.7% of Greif shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Ardagh Metal Packaging shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Greif 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.

Risk and Volatility

Ardagh Metal Packaging has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Greif has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ardagh Metal Packaging and Greif’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardagh Metal Packaging	0.68%	-27.93%	3.09%
Greif	7.53%	8.09%	3.86%

Summary

Greif beats Ardagh Metal Packaging on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ardagh Metal Packaging

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A., together with its subsidiaries, supplies consumer metal beverage cans in Europe, the United States, and Brazil. Its products are used in various end-use categories, including beer, carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, hard seltzers, juices, pre-mixed cocktails, teas, sparkling waters, and wine. The company serves beverage producers. Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. is a subsidiary of Ardagh Group S.A.

About Greif

Greif, Inc. engages in the production and sale of industrial packaging products and services worldwide. The company operates through Global Industrial Packaging; Paper Packaging & Services; and Land Management segments. The Global Industrial Packaging segment produces and sells industrial packaging products, including steel, fiber, and plastic drums; rigid and flexible intermediate bulk containers; closure systems for industrial packaging products; transit protection products; water bottles, and remanufactured and reconditioned industrial containers; and various services, such as container life cycle management, filling, logistics, warehousing, and other packaging services to chemicals, paints and pigments, food and beverage, petroleum, industrial coatings, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mineral product, and other industries. The Paper Packaging & Services segment produces and sells containerboards, corrugated sheets and containers, and other corrugated and specialty products to customers in the packaging, automotive, food, and building products markets; and produces and sells coated and uncoated recycled paperboard, and recycled fiber. This segment's corrugated container products are used to ship various products, such as home appliances, small machinery, grocery products, automotive components, books, and furniture, as well as various other applications. The Land Management segment engages in harvesting and regeneration of timber properties; and sale of timberland and special use properties. As of October 31, 2023, this segment owned approximately 175,000 acres of timber properties in the southeastern United States. The company was formerly known as Greif Bros. Corporation and changed its name to Greif, Inc. in 2001. Greif, Inc. was founded in 1877 and is headquartered in Delaware, Ohio.