Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE:PKG – Get Free Report) and Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Free Report) are both large-cap materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation and risk.
Profitability
This table compares Packaging Corporation of America and Ball’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Packaging Corporation of America | 7.25% | 18.94% | 8.10% |
| Ball | 6.61% | 18.76% | 5.35% |
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Packaging Corporation of America and Ball, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Packaging Corporation of America | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 2.80 |
| Ball | 1 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 2.54 |
Dividends
Packaging Corporation of America pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Ball pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Packaging Corporation of America pays out 77.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ball pays out 22.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.
Risk & Volatility
Packaging Corporation of America has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ball has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Packaging Corporation of America and Ball”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Packaging Corporation of America | $8.99 billion | 2.26 | $774.10 million | $7.70 | 29.56 |
| Ball | $14.33 billion | 1.11 | $912.00 million | $3.53 | 17.07 |
Ball has higher revenue and earnings than Packaging Corporation of America. Ball is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Packaging Corporation of America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
89.8% of Packaging Corporation of America shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Ball shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Packaging Corporation of America shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Ball shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Packaging Corporation of America beats Ball on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Packaging Corporation of America
Packaging Corporation of America engages in the production of container products. It operates through the following segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. The Packaging segment offers a variety of corrugated packaging products, such as conventional shipping containers. The Paper segment manufactures and sells a range of papers, including communication-based papers, and pressure sensitive papers. The Corporate and Other segment focuses on transportation assets, such as rail cars, and trucks. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, IL.
About Ball
Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages. It also manufactures and sells extruded aluminum aerosol containers, recloseable aluminum bottles, aluminum cups, and aluminum slugs. Ball Corporation was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Westminster, Colorado.
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