Ball (NYSE:BALL) & Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP) Critical Analysis

Ball (NYSE:BALL – Get Rating) and Ardagh Metal Packaging (NYSE:AMBP – Get Rating) are both industrial products companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.6% of Ball shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Ball shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Ball has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ardagh Metal Packaging has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ball and Ardagh Metal Packaging’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ball	$13.81 billion	1.68	$878.00 million	$3.42	21.25
Ardagh Metal Packaging	$4.06 billion	1.02	-$210.00 million	N/A	N/A

Ball has higher revenue and earnings than Ardagh Metal Packaging.

Profitability

This table compares Ball and Ardagh Metal Packaging’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ball	7.80%	30.95%	5.85%
Ardagh Metal Packaging	N/A	112.89%	5.08%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Ball and Ardagh Metal Packaging, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ball	0	1	1	0	2.50
Ardagh Metal Packaging	0	2	7	0	2.78

Ball currently has a consensus target price of $87.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.70%. Ardagh Metal Packaging has a consensus target price of $11.57, suggesting a potential upside of 68.36%. Given Ardagh Metal Packaging’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ardagh Metal Packaging is more favorable than Ball.

Summary

Ball beats Ardagh Metal Packaging on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

Ball Company Profile (Get Rating)

Ball Corporation supplies aluminum packaging products for the beverage, personal care, and household products industries in the United States, Brazil, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Beverage Packaging, North and Central America; Beverage Packaging, Europe, Middle East and Africa; Beverage Packaging, South America; and Aerospace. The company manufactures and sells aluminum beverage containers to fillers of carbonated soft drinks, beer, energy drinks, and other beverages. It also develops spacecraft, sensors and instruments, radio frequency systems, and other technologies for the civil, commercial, and national security aerospace markets, as well as offers defense hardware, antenna and video tactical solutions, civil and operational space hardware, and systems engineering services. In addition, the company designs, manufactures, and tests satellites, remote sensors, and ground station control hardware and software; and provides launch vehicle integration and satellite operational services. Further, it offers target identification, warning, and attitude control systems and components; cryogenic systems and associated sensor cooling devices; star trackers; and fast-steering mirrors to the government agencies or their prime contractors. Additionally, the company 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.

Ardagh Metal Packaging Company Profile (Get Rating)

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. supplies metal beverage cans in Europe, the United States, and Brazil. Its products are used in various end-use categories, including beer, carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, hard seltzers, juices, pre-mixed cocktails, teas, sparkling waters, and wine. The company serves beverage producers. The company is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. is a subsidiary of Ardagh Group S.A.