PKG vs SW
Packaging Corp. of America and Smurfit Westrock PLC, side by side — 4 fiscal years reported in USD, drawn from SEC filings.
Most recent reported year
| Metric | PKG | SW |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $9.0B | $31.2B |
| Net income | $774.1M | $699.0M |
| Gross margin | 21.0% | 19.4% |
| Net margin | 8.6% | 2.2% |
| Return on equity | 17.2% | 3.9% |
| Diluted EPS | $8.58 | $1.33 |
| Dividend / share | $5.00 | $1.72 |
| Payout ratio | 58.1% | 128.8% |
| Free cash flow | $728.6M | $1.2B |
| Equity | $4.6B | $18.3B |
| Net debt / equity | 0.75× | 0.69× |
| Current ratio | 3.17× | 1.48× |
| Revenue CAGR 5y | 6.2% | · |
| Profit CAGR 5y | 10.9% | · |
SW bills 3.5× the revenue of PKG, and PKG keeps more of each dollar of revenue as profit (8.6% against 2.2%).
The stronger figure of the pair is set in bold. That is arithmetic, not a recommendation — this page does not pick a winner. "·" marks a figure not available in our data.
4 years side by side
| Fiscal year | PKG | SW |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $9.0B | $31.2B |
| FY2024 | $8.4B | $21.1B |
| FY2023 | $7.8B | $12.1B |
| FY2022 | $8.5B | $13.5B |
Bottom line
| Fiscal year | PKG | SW |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $774.1M | $699.0M |
| FY2024 | $805.1M | $319.0M |
| FY2023 | $765.2M | $825.0M |
| FY2022 | $1.0B | $1.0B |
Standard deviation, each side
SW's net margin has been more volatile than PKG's over the 4 comparable fiscal years — 2.7 percentage points of standard deviation against 1.3.
4 of 18 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
PKG led in net margin in every one of the 4 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
4 of 18 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Standard deviation, each side
SW's return on equity has been more volatile than PKG's over the 4 comparable fiscal years — 7.0 percentage points of standard deviation against 4.3.
4 of 18 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.
Year by year
PKG led in return on equity in every one of the 4 comparable fiscal years — a structural lead, not a recent swing.
4 of 18 comparable fiscal years — a year missing data on either side is not counted.