Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) vs. Brambles (OTCMKTS:BXBLY) Financial Contrast

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) and Brambles (OTCMKTS:BXBLY) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Sonoco Products and Brambles, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sonoco Products	0	2	6	0	2.75
Brambles	0	0	0	0	0.00

Sonoco Products presently has a consensus target price of $57.63, indicating a potential upside of 30.26%. Given Sonoco Products’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Brambles.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sonoco Products and Brambles”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sonoco Products	$5.31 billion	0.82	$163.95 million	$5.58	7.93
Brambles	$6.55 billion	3.18	$779.90 million	N/A	N/A

Brambles has higher revenue and earnings than Sonoco Products.

Profitability

This table compares Sonoco Products and Brambles’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sonoco Products	8.35%	20.46%	4.64%
Brambles	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Brambles shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Sonoco Products shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Sonoco Products pays an annual dividend of $2.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Brambles pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Sonoco Products pays out 38.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sonoco Products has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Sonoco Products is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Risk & Volatility

Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brambles has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sonoco Products beats Brambles on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sonoco Products

Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells various engineered and sustainable packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging segments. The Consumer Packaging segment offers round and shaped rigid paper, steel, and plastic containers; metal and peelable membrane ends, closures, and components; thermoformed plastic trays and enclosures; and high-barrier flexible packaging products. The Industrial Paper Packaging segment provides paperboard tubes, cones, and cores; paper-based protective packaging products; and uncoated recycled paperboard products. It also offers various packaging materials, including plastic, paper, foam, and other specialty materials. Sonoco Products Company sells its products in various markets, which include paper, textile, film, food, packaging, construction, and wire and cable. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina.

About Brambles

Brambles Limited operates as a supply-chain logistics company. It operates through CHEP North America and Latin America; CHEP Europe, Middle East, Africa and India; and CHEP Australia, New Zealand and Asia, excluding India segments. The company engages in the pooling of unit-load equipment and associated services, focusing on the outsourced management of pallets, crates, and containers. It serves customers in the fast-moving consumer goods, fresh produce, beverage, retail, and general manufacturing industries. Brambles Limited was founded in 1875 and is based in Sydney, Australia.