Greif (NYSE:GEF – Get Free Report) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW – Get Free Report) are both materials companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, dividends and earnings.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Greif and Smurfit Westrock, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Greif | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Smurfit Westrock | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 2.85 |
Greif presently has a consensus price target of $83.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.74%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus price target of $57.69, indicating a potential upside of 33.38%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Greif.
Dividends
Volatility & Risk
Greif has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
45.7% of Greif shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.7% of Greif shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Greif and Smurfit Westrock”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Greif | $5.45 billion | 0.70 | $268.80 million | $3.19 | 25.83 |
| Smurfit Westrock | $31.18 billion | 0.73 | $699.00 million | $0.94 | 46.02 |
Smurfit Westrock has higher revenue and earnings than Greif. Greif is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Smurfit Westrock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Greif and Smurfit Westrock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Greif | 7.53% | 8.09% | 3.86% |
| Smurfit Westrock | 1.59% | 4.60% | 1.85% |
Summary
Smurfit Westrock beats Greif on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
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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