Analyzing Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) and Amcor (NYSE:AMCR)

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) and Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

Sealed Air has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amcor has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.4% of Sealed Air shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.1% of Amcor shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Sealed Air shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Amcor shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sealed Air and Amcor”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sealed Air	$5.39 billion	0.86	$264.70 million	$2.02	15.52
Amcor	$13.64 billion	0.97	$730.00 million	$0.56	16.40

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sealed Air and Amcor, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sealed Air	0	4	7	1	2.75
Amcor	0	4	6	1	2.73

Sealed Air presently has a consensus target price of $38.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.19%. Amcor has a consensus target price of $11.31, indicating a potential upside of 23.18%. Given Amcor’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Amcor is more favorable than Sealed Air.

Profitability

This table compares Sealed Air and Amcor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sealed Air	5.55%	65.49%	6.50%
Amcor	5.99%	26.49%	6.11%

Dividends

Sealed Air pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Amcor pays an annual dividend of $0.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.6%. Sealed Air pays out 39.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amcor pays out 91.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Amcor has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Amcor is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Amcor beats Sealed Air on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sealed Air

Sealed Air Corporation provides packaging solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It operates through two segments, Food and Protective. The Food segment offers integrated packaging materials and automation equipment solutions to provide food safety, shelf life extension, reduce food waste, automate processes, and optimize total cost for food processors in the fresh red meat, smoked and processed meats, poultry, seafood, plant-based, fluids and liquids and cheese markets under the CRYOVAC, CRYOVAC Grip & Tear, CRYOVAC Darfresh, LIQUIBOX, Simple Steps, and Optidure brands. This segment sells its solutions directly to customers through its sales, marketing, and customer service personnel. The Protective segment provides shrink films, bagging systems, foam, inflatable, and suspension and retention packaging solutions to protect goods to e-commerce, consumer goods, pharmaceutical and medical devices, and industrial manufacturing markets under the SEALED AIR, BUBBLE WRAP, AUTOBAG, Instapak, and Korrvu brands. This segment sells its solutions through supply distributors, as well as directly to fabricators, original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers, logistics partners, and e-commerce/fulfillment operations. The company was incorporated in 1960 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Amcor

Amcor plc develops, produces, and sells packaging products in Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. The company operates through two segments, Flexibles and Rigid Packaging. The Flexibles segment provides flexible and film packaging products in the food and beverage, medical and pharmaceutical, fresh produce, snack food, personal care, and other industries. The Rigid Packaging segment offers rigid containers for various beverage and food products, including carbonated soft drinks, water, juices, sports drinks, milk-based beverages, spirits and beer, sauces, dressings, spreads, and personal care items; and plastic caps for various applications. The company sells its products through its direct sales force. Amcor plc was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.