Smurfit Kappa Group (OTCMKTS:SMFKY) versus Crown (NYSE:CCK) Head-To-Head Comparison

Crown (NYSE:CCK) and Smurfit Kappa Group (OTCMKTS:SMFKY) are both large-cap materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Crown and Smurfit Kappa Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Crown	0	6	11	0	2.65
Smurfit Kappa Group	0	0	0	0	0.00

Crown presently has a consensus target price of $128.20, suggesting a potential upside of 7.46%. Given Crown’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Crown is more favorable than Smurfit Kappa Group.

Profitability

This table compares Crown and Smurfit Kappa Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Crown	5.91%	27.33%	6.52%
Smurfit Kappa Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.9% of Crown shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Smurfit Kappa Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Crown shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Crown and Smurfit Kappa Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Crown	$12.37 billion	1.05	$738.00 million	$6.95	17.17
Smurfit Kappa Group	$12.20 billion	0.98	$820.38 million	N/A	N/A

Smurfit Kappa Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Crown.

Risk & Volatility

Crown has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Smurfit Kappa Group has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Crown pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Smurfit Kappa Group pays an annual dividend of $1.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Crown pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Crown has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Summary

Crown beats Smurfit Kappa Group on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crown

Crown Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the packaging business in the United States and internationally. It operates through Americas Beverage, European Beverage, Asia Pacific, and Transit Packaging segments. The company manufactures and sells recyclable aluminum beverage cans and ends, glass bottles, steel crowns, aluminum caps, non-beverage cans, and aerosol cans and closures. It also provides manual, semi-automatic, and automatic equipment and tools to apply and remove consumables, such as straps and films; protective solutions, including airbags, edge protectors, and honeycomb products; and steel and plastic consumables include steel strap, plastic strap, industrial film, and other related products. The company serves food industries, including pet food, personal care, household, and industrial products. Crown Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Yardley, Pennsylvania.

About Smurfit Kappa Group

Smurfit Kappa Group Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland, Germany, France, Mexico, rest of Europe, and other Americas. The company offers e-commerce, retail, consumer, industrial, bottle, protective, heavy-duty, hexacomb, and various punnet packaging products; composite cardboard tubes, bags, and sacks; and bag-in-box, a packaging system that comprises films, accessories, bags, taps, and boxes. It also provides point of sale displays; cardboards of social distancing; corrugated sheet boards, solid board sheets, folding carton sheet boards, sack Kraft papers, MG brown Kraft papers, preprint products, agro-papers, technical papers, BanaBag, and Catcher Board MB12; and various types of containerboards, such as kraftliners, testliners, and containerboard flutings. In addition, the company offers recycling solutions to cardboard and paper products; and supplies packaging machinery. It primarily serves consumer goods, industrial goods, and food and drink sectors. Smurfit Kappa Group Plc was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.