CLW vs SW vs SON Stock Comparison

Clearwater Paper, Smurfit Westrock and Sonoco Products Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CLW Clearwater Paper Corp
$19.32 -9.5% 1M -3.2% 1Y
Market cap
$308.01M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$1.52B
Div. yield
–
Paper Packaging Basic Materials
SW Smurfit Westrock plc
$41.85 -10.0% 1M -2.7% 1Y
Market cap
$22.12B
P/E
44.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$31.33B
Div. yield
–
Paper Packaging Basic Materials
2 wins
SON Sonoco Products Co
$50.12 -1.0% 1M +21.0% 1Y
Market cap
$4.92B
P/E
7.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$7.46B
Div. yield
0.04%
Paper Packaging Basic Materials
9 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Sonoco Products leads on 9 of the 12 questions below (Sonoco Products 9, Smurfit Westrock 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCLWSWSONLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $308.01M $22.12B $4.92B SW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -6.2x 44.5x 7.8x SON
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 18.4x 9.3x SON
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -1.9% +1.7% +17.7% SON
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -3.2% 1.6% 8.4% SON
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital -5.7% 3.1% 10.0% SON
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 20.6x 3.2x 2.7x SON
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.04% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -3.2% -2.7% +21.0% SON
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -14.9%/yr -3.0%/yr -3.4%/yr SW
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 52.7% 44.1% 33.8% SON
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 57/100 53/100 68/100 SON

Percentile Scorecard

CLWSWSON

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCLWSWSON
Valuation 93 #2 of 16 67 #6 of 16 80 #4 of 16
Growth 47 #9 of 16 67 #6 of 16 87 #3 of 16
Profitability 33 #11 of 16 40 #10 of 16 87 #3 of 16
Financial Health 81 #4 of 17 69 #6 of 17 31 #12 of 17
Shareholder Returns 31 #10 of 14 23 #11 of 14 54 #7 of 14
Overall 57 53 68
  • CLW ranked among 17 companies in Packaging
  • SW ranked among 17 companies in Packaging
  • SON ranked among 17 companies in Packaging

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCLWSWSONSPY
1 month -9.5%-10.0%-1.0% -1.0%
3 months +14.8%-13.8%-13.9% +2.9%
6 months +32.1%+4.7%+3.4% +6.4%
Year to date +11.0%+8.2%+14.8% +11.4%
1 year -3.2%-2.7%+21.0% +13.1%
3 years -43.3%+32.4%-0.9% +79.4%
3 years, per year -17.2%+9.8%-0.3% +21.5%
5 years -55.5%-14.1%-15.8% +67.7%
5 years, per year -14.9%-3.0%-3.4% +10.9%
10 years -65.5%+91.0%-1.5% +255.2%
10 years, per year -10.1%+6.7%-0.2% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureCLWSWSONSPY
Volatility, 1Y 52.7%44.1%33.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 50.5%40.4%36.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.901.450.39 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.06-0.060.62 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -77.8%-55.1%-41.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -17.1%-19.3%-17.2% -2.5%
52-week high $23.30$51.84$60.55 $779.14
52-week low $12.44$32.79$39.27 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCLWSWSON
P/E now vs peer median -6.3xmedian 18.2x 44.1xmedian 18.2x 7.9xmedian 18.2x
P/S now vs peer median 0.2xmedian 0.7x 0.7xmedian 0.7x 0.7xmedian 0.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 44.8xmedian 9.5x 8.4xmedian 9.5x 5.9xmedian 9.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 5.5xmedian 15.7x 21.6xmedian 15.7x 14.0xmedian 15.7x
P/B now vs peer median 0.4xmedian 1.4x 1.2xmedian 1.4x 1.4xmedian 1.4x
PEG now vs peer median 0.16median 0.83 —median 0.83 0.90median 0.83

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCLWSWSON
Revenue $1.52B $31.33B $7.46B
Gross profit $24.60M $5.62B $1.55B
Operating income -$82.20M $1.48B $1.04B
Net income -$49.30M $497.00M $628.33M
Free cash flow $56.60M $1.02B $354.83M
EPS (diluted) $-3.06 $0.94 $6.29
Cash & equivalents $95.40M $677.00M $168.65M
Total debt $361.10M $14.16B $4.45B
Shares (diluted) 16.13M 526.00M 99.78M
Enterprise value $111.01M $19.02B $3.90B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCLWSWSON
P/E -6.3x 44.1x 7.9x
P/FCF 5.5x 21.6x 14.0x
P/Operating cash flow 2.9x 6.7x 7.8x
P/S 0.2x 0.7x 0.7x
P/B 0.4x 1.2x 1.4x
P/Tangible book 0.4x 1.3x 4.7x
EV/EBITDA 44.8x 8.4x 5.9x
EV/EBIT -7.0x 24.0x 8.9x
EV/Revenue 0.4x 1.1x 1.2x
EV/FCF 10.2x 34.9x 26.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 5.3x 10.7x 14.5x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.16 – 0.90

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCLWSWSON
Revenue growth (1Y) -1.9% 1.7% 17.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 25.5% – 15.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -80.2% -4.5% 15.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 28.3% – 13.1%
Operating income growth (1Y) -647.3% 17.2% 124.7%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -38.8% – 19.0%
Net income growth (1Y) -124.5% 41.2% 13.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -39.6% – 9.2%
EPS growth (1Y) -124.7% 40.1% 12.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -40.3% – 8.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 337.9% 52.3% 17.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 17.1% – -1.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 131.2% 1,094% 148.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 63.3% – 2.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCLWSWSON
Gross margin 1.6% 17.9% 20.8%
EBITDA margin 0.8% 13.5% 20.9%
Operating margin -5.4% 4.7% 13.9%
Pretax margin -6.9% 2.3% 10.8%
Net margin -3.2% 1.6% 8.4%
FCF margin 3.7% 3.2% 4.8%
Operating cash flow margin 7.1% 10.5% 8.5%
Return on equity -6.1% 2.7% 17.5%
Return on assets -3.1% 1.1% 5.7%
Return on invested capital -5.7% 3.1% 10.0%
Return on capital employed -6.1% 3.9% 12.6%
Asset turnover 1.0x 0.7x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -2.2x 6.6x 1.0x
Stock comp / revenue 0.2% 0.4% 0.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCLWSWSON
Debt / assets 23.0% 31.3% 40.6%
Debt / equity 0.5x 0.8x 1.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 20.6x 3.2x 2.7x
Debt / FCF 6.4x 14.0x 12.6x
Liabilities / assets 49.5% 60.0% 67.2%
Equity / assets 50.5% 40.0% 32.8%
Interest coverage – – 5.1x
Current ratio 2.3x 1.4x 1.0x
Quick ratio 1.1x 0.7x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.1x 0.1x
Altman Z-score 2.00 1.44 1.83

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCLWSWSON
Dividend yield – 4.3% 4.3%
Net buyback yield 0.7% -0.1% 0.1%
Shareholder yield 0.7% 4.2% 4.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 33.5%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 59.3%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 2.2%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 2.9%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCLWSWSON
Forward P/E – 18.4xFY2026 9.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $-3.47FY2026 $2.27FY2026 $5.38FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +10.7%FY2026 -5.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – +66.5% +18.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.56BFY2026 $33.69BFY2026 $7.74BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +0.2%FY2026 +8.1%FY2026 +3.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +6.0% +8.8% -5.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCLWSWSON
Held by institutions 88.7% 95.9% 97.9%
Institutions holding 134 640 507
Change in shares held, QoQ +9.9% +5.7% +13.2%
Institutions buying 85 373 264
Institutions selling 33 191 160
Buyers to sellers 2.58 1.95 1.65

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CLWSWSON
CLW 1.00 0.41 0.24
SW 0.41 1.00 0.52
SON 0.24 0.52 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CLW, SW and SON?

Smurfit Westrock (SW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Clearwater Paper (CLW) $308.01M, Smurfit Westrock (SW) $22.12B, Sonoco Products (SON) $4.92B.

Which stock is cheaper, CLW, SW and SON?

Sonoco Products (SON) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Clearwater Paper (CLW) -6.2x, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 44.5x, Sonoco Products (SON) 7.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Sonoco Products (SON) is cheapest (Smurfit Westrock (SW) 18.4x, Sonoco Products (SON) 9.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Sonoco Products (SON) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Clearwater Paper (CLW) -1.9%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) +1.7%, Sonoco Products (SON) +17.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Sonoco Products (SON) has the highest net margin (Clearwater Paper (CLW) -3.2%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 1.6%, Sonoco Products (SON) 8.4%). On return on invested capital, Sonoco Products (SON) leads (Clearwater Paper (CLW) -5.7%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 3.1%, Sonoco Products (SON) 10.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Sonoco Products (SON) returned the most: Clearwater Paper (CLW) -3.2%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) -2.7%, Sonoco Products (SON) +21.0%. Over five years, Smurfit Westrock (SW) compounded fastest (Clearwater Paper (CLW) -14.9%/yr, Smurfit Westrock (SW) -3.0%/yr, Sonoco Products (SON) -3.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Clearwater Paper (CLW) 0.00%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 0.00%, Sonoco Products (SON) 0.04%. Clearwater Paper (CLW) and Smurfit Westrock (SW) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Sonoco Products (SON) has been the steadiest (Clearwater Paper (CLW) 52.7%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 44.1%, Sonoco Products (SON) 33.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CLW, SW and SON?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Sonoco Products (SON) leads on 9. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.