Critical Review: Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) vs. Ball (NYSE:BALL)

Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) and Ball (NYSE:BALL) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Ranpak and Ball’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ranpak	-9.09%	-7.18%	-3.41%
Ball	6.61%	18.76%	5.35%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ranpak and Ball, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ranpak	1	0	3	0	2.50
Ball	1	4	8	0	2.54

Ranpak currently has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 42.86%. Ball has a consensus price target of $71.69, suggesting a potential upside of 12.56%. Given Ranpak’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Ranpak is more favorable than Ball.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

85.9% of Ranpak shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.5% of Ball shares are held by institutional investors. 8.8% of Ranpak shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Ball 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ranpak and Ball”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ranpak	$395.00 million	1.06	-$38.30 million	($0.44)	-11.14
Ball	$13.16 billion	1.28	$912.00 million	$3.53	18.04

Ball has higher revenue and earnings than Ranpak. Ranpak is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ball, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Ranpak has a beta of 3.14, suggesting that its stock price is 214% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ball has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ball beats Ranpak on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ranpak

Ranpak Holdings Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides product protection solutions and end-of-line automation solutions for e-commerce and industrial supply chains in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company offers protective packaging solutions, such as void-fill protective systems that convert paper to fill empty spaces in secondary packages and protect objects under the FillPak brand; cushioning protective systems, which convert paper into cushioning pads under the PadPak brand; and wrapping protective systems that create pads or paper mesh to wrap and protect fragile items, as well as to line boxes and provide separation when shipping various objects under the WrapPak, Geami, and ReadyRoll brands, as well as cold chain products, which are used to provide insulation for goods. It also offers end-of-line packaging automation products, which help end users automate the void filling and box closure processes after product packing is complete. The company sells its products to end users primarily through a distributor network, and directly to select end-users. Ranpak Holdings Corp. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Concord Township, Ohio.

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.