Comparing Greif (NYSE:GEF) and Ranpak (NYSE:PACK)

Greif (NYSE:GEF) and Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Risk and Volatility

Greif has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ranpak has a beta of 2.71, indicating that its share price is 171% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Greif	3.74%	10.21%	3.23%
Ranpak	-5.74%	-3.87%	-1.92%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

45.7% of Greif shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.9% of Ranpak shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of Greif shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of Ranpak shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Greif and Ranpak, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Greif	0	3	4	0	2.57
Ranpak	0	2	1	0	2.33

Greif presently has a consensus price target of $74.17, indicating a potential upside of 18.32%. Ranpak has a consensus price target of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 57.37%. Given Ranpak’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ranpak is more favorable than Greif.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Greif	$5.45 billion	0.55	$268.80 million	$3.55	17.66
Ranpak	$368.90 million	0.80	-$21.50 million	($0.26)	-13.44

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

Summary

Greif beats Ranpak on 9 of the 14 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 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.