Head-To-Head Review: Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) versus Nine Dragons Paper (OTCMKTS:NDGPY)

Sonoco Products (NYSE:SON) and Nine Dragons Paper (OTCMKTS:NDGPY) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

77.7% of Sonoco Products shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Sonoco Products shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Sonoco Products and Nine Dragons Paper, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sonoco Products	0	2	6	0	2.75
Nine Dragons Paper	0	0	0	0	0.00

Sonoco Products currently has a consensus price target of $56.25, indicating a potential upside of 28.07%. Given Sonoco Products’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Sonoco Products is more favorable than Nine Dragons Paper.

Profitability

This table compares Sonoco Products and Nine Dragons Paper’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sonoco Products	2.40%	21.78%	5.09%
Nine Dragons Paper	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sonoco Products and Nine Dragons Paper”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sonoco Products	$5.31 billion	0.82	$163.95 million	$1.54	28.52
Nine Dragons Paper	$8.25 billion	0.24	$107.12 million	N/A	N/A

Sonoco Products has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Nine Dragons Paper.

Risk and Volatility

Sonoco Products has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nine Dragons Paper has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sonoco Products beats Nine Dragons Paper on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sonoco Products

Sonoco Products Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells various engineered and sustainable packaging products in North and South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company operates Consumer Packaging and Industrial Paper Packaging segments. The Consumer Packaging segment offers round and shaped rigid paper, steel, and plastic containers; metal and peelable membrane ends, closures, and components; thermoformed plastic trays and enclosures; and high-barrier flexible packaging products. The Industrial Paper Packaging segment provides paperboard tubes, cones, and cores; paper-based protective packaging products; and uncoated recycled paperboard products. It also offers various packaging materials, including plastic, paper, foam, and other specialty materials. Sonoco Products Company sells its products in various markets, which include paper, textile, film, food, packaging, construction, and wire and cable. The company was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina.

About Nine Dragons Paper

Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and sale of packaging paper, recycled printing and writing paper, and specialty paper and pulp products in the People's Republic of China. The company offers linerboard products, including kraft, test, white top, and coated linerboards; corrugating medium containerboard products; corrugated cardboard products; carton box products; corrugated sheet products; and coated duplex boards. It also provides recycled printing and writing paper, such as uncoated wood-free paper and office paper; capacitor tissue paper; low and high voltage, ultra-high-voltage transformer coil winding, and heat-resistant insulating paper; and recycled and kraft pulp products. It also operates in Vietnam, Malaysia, and the United States. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Dongguan, the People's Republic of China. Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited operates as a subsidiary of Best Result Holdings Limited.