MERC vs PKG vs SW Stock Comparison

Mercer International, Packaging Corp Of America and Smurfit Westrock Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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PKG Packaging Corp Of America
$247.30 +2.6% 1M +16.0% 1Y
Market cap
$22.47B
P/E
32.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$9.53B
Div. yield
0.02%
Paper Packaging Basic Materials
8 wins
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

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Packaging Corp Of America leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Packaging Corp Of America 8, Smurfit Westrock 2, Mercer International 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionMERCPKGSWLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $8.43M $22.47B $22.12B PKG
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 0.0x 32.5x 44.5x PKG
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 22.6x 18.4x SW
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -4.8% +10.3% +1.7% PKG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -27.9% 7.3% 1.6% PKG
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital -23.1% 9.1% 3.1% PKG
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -6.8x 1.9x 3.2x MERC
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.19% 0.02% 0.00% MERC
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -94.4% +16.0% -2.7% PKG
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -57.7%/yr +13.0%/yr -3.0%/yr PKG
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 96.6% 28.2% 44.1% PKG
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 14/100 47/100 53/100 SW

Percentile Scorecard

MERCPKGSW

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

AxisMERCPKGSW
Valuation 19 #232 of 287 13 #14 of 16 67 #6 of 16
Growth 1 #265 of 267 27 #12 of 16 67 #6 of 16
Profitability 27 #176 of 240 93 #2 of 16 40 #10 of 16
Financial Health 8 #273 of 295 88 #3 of 17 69 #6 of 17
Shareholder Returns 13 #177 of 204 15 #12 of 14 23 #11 of 14
Overall 14 47 53
  • MERC ranked among 308 companies in Basic Materials
  • PKG ranked among 17 companies in Packaging
  • SW ranked among 17 companies in Packaging

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodMERCPKGSWSPY
1 month -56.3%+2.6%-10.0% -1.0%
3 months -79.1%-2.8%-13.8% +2.9%
6 months -87.5%+16.2%+4.7% +6.4%
Year to date -92.9%+19.9%+8.2% +11.4%
1 year -94.4%+16.0%-2.7% +13.1%
3 years -98.4%+66.1%+32.4% +79.4%
3 years, per year -74.7%+18.4%+9.8% +21.5%
5 years -98.6%+84.6%-14.1% +67.7%
5 years, per year -57.7%+13.0%-3.0% +10.9%
10 years -98.2%+203.3%+91.0% +255.2%
10 years, per year -33.1%+11.7%+6.7% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureMERCPKGSWSPY
Volatility, 1Y 96.6%28.2%44.1% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 113.0%26.3%40.4% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.910.681.45 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.980.57-0.06 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -99.2%-32.7%-55.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -95.0%-3.9%-19.3% -2.5%
52-week high $2.79$257.38$51.84 $779.14
52-week low $0.14$191.68$32.79 $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.

MultipleMERCPKGSW
P/E now vs peer median 0.0xmedian 17.9x 31.6xmedian 18.2x 44.1xmedian 18.2x
P/S now vs peer median 0.0xmedian 1.8x 2.3xmedian 0.7x 0.7xmedian 0.7x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median -6.8xmedian 9.8x 14.0xmedian 9.5x 8.4xmedian 9.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median -0.1xmedian 16.0x 29.8xmedian 15.7x 21.6xmedian 15.7x
P/B now vs peer median -0.1xmedian 1.8x 4.7xmedian 1.4x 1.2xmedian 1.4x
PEG now vs peer median 0.00median 0.73 -4.47median 0.83 —median 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 monthsMERCPKGSW
Revenue $1.86B $9.53B $31.33B
Gross profit $52.72M $1.92B $5.62B
Operating income -$437.94M $1.04B $1.48B
Net income -$517.45M $691.80M $497.00M
Free cash flow -$154.18M $739.90M $1.02B
EPS (diluted) $-7.72 $7.77 $0.94
Cash & equivalents $78.78M $442.80M $677.00M
Total debt $1.95B $12.89B $14.16B
Shares (diluted) 67.04M 89.00M 526.00M
Enterprise value -$439.79M $20.00B $19.02B

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
MetricMERCPKGSW
P/E 0.0x 31.6x 44.1x
P/FCF -0.1x 29.8x 21.6x
P/Operating cash flow -0.1x 13.6x 6.7x
P/S 0.0x 2.3x 0.7x
P/B -0.1x 4.7x 1.2x
P/Tangible book -0.1x 5.4x 1.3x
EV/EBITDA -6.8x 14.0x 8.4x
EV/EBIT -4.3x 24.5x 24.0x
EV/Revenue 1.0x 2.7x 1.1x
EV/FCF -12.2x 34.3x 34.9x
EV/Operating cash flow -22.2x 15.6x 10.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.00 -4.47 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricMERCPKGSW
Revenue growth (1Y) -4.8% 10.3% 1.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -5.0% 5.9% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) -81.9% 0.2% -4.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -45.3% 1.3% –
Operating income growth (1Y) -5,891% -16.7% 17.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -163.0% -4.9% –
Net income growth (1Y) -373.6% -23.5% 41.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -130.8% -7.2% –
EPS growth (1Y) -372.7% -22.9% 40.1%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -130.0% -7.1% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -270.4% 25.8% 52.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -41.4% 2.9% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -261.2% 18.7% 1,094%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -0.7% -3.4% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricMERCPKGSW
Gross margin 2.8% 20.1% 17.9%
EBITDA margin -14.9% 19.1% 13.5%
Operating margin -23.6% 10.9% 4.7%
Pretax margin -29.7% 9.6% 2.3%
Net margin -27.9% 7.3% 1.6%
FCF margin -8.3% 7.8% 3.2%
Operating cash flow margin -4.6% 17.0% 10.5%
Return on equity – 15.0% 2.7%
Return on assets -27.0% 6.3% 1.1%
Return on invested capital -23.1% 9.1% 3.1%
Return on capital employed -33.3% 10.6% 3.9%
Asset turnover 1.0x 0.9x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.2x 2.3x 6.6x
Stock comp / revenue 0.0% 0.5% 0.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricMERCPKGSW
Debt / assets 104.3% 36.0% 31.3%
Debt / equity -19.9x 0.9x 0.8x
Net debt / EBITDA -6.8x 1.9x 3.2x
Debt / FCF -12.7x 5.4x 14.0x
Liabilities / assets 105.2% 57.7% 60.0%
Equity / assets -5.2% 42.3% 40.0%
Interest coverage -3.7x – –
Current ratio 1.3x 2.9x 1.4x
Quick ratio 0.6x 1.7x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.5x 0.1x
Altman Z-score 0.04 4.01 1.44

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricMERCPKGSW
Dividend yield 0.0% 2.2% 4.3%
Net buyback yield – 0.3% -0.1%
Shareholder yield 0.0% 2.5% 4.2%
Payout ratio (earnings) -1.9% 64.8% –
Payout ratio (FCF) -6.5% 60.6% –
Dividend growth (1Y) -60.0% -0.3% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) -26.1% -0.7% –

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.

ConsensusMERCPKGSW
Forward P/E – 22.6xFY2026 18.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $-3.78FY2026 $10.94FY2026 $2.27FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +11.2%FY2026 +10.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – +31.6% +66.5%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.04BFY2026 $9.52BFY2026 $33.69BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +9.1%FY2026 +5.9%FY2026 +8.1%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +12.0% +17.6% +8.8%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersMERCPKGSW
Held by institutions 63.8% 97.9% 95.9%
Institutions holding 67 901 640
Change in shares held, QoQ -11.3% +1.6% +5.7%
Institutions buying 27 456 373
Institutions selling 19 291 191
Buyers to sellers 1.42 1.57 1.95

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.

MERCPKGSW
MERC 1.00 0.11 0.21
PKG 0.11 1.00 0.78
SW 0.21 0.78 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, MERC, PKG and SW?

Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) is the largest by market capitalisation: Mercer International (MERC) $8.43M, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) $22.47B, Smurfit Westrock (SW) $22.12B.

Which stock is cheaper, MERC, PKG and SW?

Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Mercer International (MERC) 0.0x, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) 32.5x, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 44.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, Smurfit Westrock (SW) is cheapest (Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) 22.6x, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 18.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Mercer International (MERC) -4.8%, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) +10.3%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) +1.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) has the highest net margin (Mercer International (MERC) -27.9%, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) 7.3%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 1.6%). On return on invested capital, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) leads (Mercer International (MERC) -23.1%, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) 9.1%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 3.1%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) returned the most: Mercer International (MERC) -94.4%, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) +16.0%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) -2.7%. Over five years, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) compounded fastest (Mercer International (MERC) -57.7%/yr, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) +13.0%/yr, Smurfit Westrock (SW) -3.0%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Mercer International (MERC) has the highest dividend yield: Mercer International (MERC) 1.19%, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) 0.02%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 0.00%. Smurfit Westrock (SW) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) has been the steadiest (Mercer International (MERC) 96.6%, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) 28.2%, Smurfit Westrock (SW) 44.1%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, MERC, PKG and SW?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Packaging Corp Of America (PKG) leads on 8. 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.