Head-To-Head Survey: Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) vs. Greif (NYSE:GEF)

Greif (NYSE:GEF) and Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW) are both materials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, risk and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Greif and Smurfit Westrock”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Greif	$5.43 billion	0.73	$268.80 million	$3.19	26.89
Smurfit Westrock	$31.18 billion	0.76	$699.00 million	$0.94	48.30

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.

Volatility & Risk

Greif has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Westrock has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Greif pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Smurfit Westrock pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Greif pays out 77.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. 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. Greif has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

45.7% of Greif shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Greif shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Smurfit Westrock shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Greif and Smurfit Westrock, as reported 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 target price of $83.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.26%. Smurfit Westrock has a consensus target price of $57.69, suggesting a potential upside of 27.08%. Given Smurfit Westrock’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Smurfit Westrock is more favorable than Greif.

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.