AptarGroup (NYSE:ATR – Get Free Report) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.
Volatility and Risk
AptarGroup has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Dividends
AptarGroup pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. AptarGroup pays out 34.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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. AptarGroup has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years.
Valuation & Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| AptarGroup | $3.78 billion | 2.22 | $392.79 million | $5.53 | 23.87 |
| Smurfit Westrock | $31.18 billion | 0.83 | $699.00 million | $0.94 | 52.41 |
Smurfit Westrock has higher revenue and earnings than AptarGroup. AptarGroup is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Westrock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for AptarGroup and Smurfit Westrock, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| AptarGroup | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 2.62 |
| Smurfit Westrock | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 2.85 |
AptarGroup currently has a consensus price target of $172.80, indicating a potential upside of 30.91%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus price target of $57.62, indicating a potential upside of 16.95%. Given AptarGroup’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe AptarGroup is more favorable than Smurfit Westrock.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
88.5% of AptarGroup shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of AptarGroup shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares AptarGroup and Smurfit Westrock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| AptarGroup | 9.22% | 13.31% | 6.96% |
| Smurfit Westrock | 1.59% | 4.60% | 1.85% |
Summary
AptarGroup beats Smurfit Westrock on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About AptarGroup
AptarGroup, Inc. designs and manufactures a range of drug delivery, consumer product dispensing, and active material science solutions and services for the pharmaceutical, beauty, personal care, home care, and food and beverage markets. The company operates through Aptar Pharma, Aptar Beauty, and Aptar Closures segments. It also provides pumps for nasal allergy treatments; and metered dose inhaler valves for respiratory ailments, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases; elastomer for injectable primary packaging components; and active material science solutions. In addition, the company offers dispensing pumps, closures, elastomeric components, and aerosol valves to the digital health solutions. It primarily sells its products and services in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. AptarGroup, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
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.
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