Reviewing Stora Enso Oyj (OTCMKTS:SEOAY) & West Fraser Timber (OTCMKTS:WFTBF)

West Fraser Timber (OTCMKTS:WFTBF) and Stora Enso Oyj (OTCMKTS:SEOAY) are both materials companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for West Fraser Timber and Stora Enso Oyj, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Fraser Timber	0	0	0	0	0.00
Stora Enso Oyj	1	3	1	0	2.00

Stora Enso Oyj has a consensus target price of $10.80, indicating a potential downside of 3.49%. Given Stora Enso Oyj’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Stora Enso Oyj is more favorable than West Fraser Timber.

Dividends

West Fraser Timber pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Stora Enso Oyj pays an annual dividend of $0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. West Fraser Timber pays out 7.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stora Enso Oyj pays out 17.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

31.7% of West Fraser Timber shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Stora Enso Oyj shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Stora Enso Oyj shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares West Fraser Timber and Stora Enso Oyj’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Fraser Timber	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stora Enso Oyj	6.20%	2.38%	1.30%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares West Fraser Timber and Stora Enso Oyj”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Fraser Timber	N/A	N/A	N/A	$3.84	18.54
Stora Enso Oyj	$10.55 billion	0.84	$786.32 million	$0.84	13.32

Stora Enso Oyj has higher revenue and earnings than West Fraser Timber. Stora Enso Oyj is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Fraser Timber, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Stora Enso Oyj beats West Fraser Timber on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About West Fraser Timber

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., a diversified wood products company, produces and sells lumber, panels, and pulp and papers in western Canada and the southern United States. It offers spruce-pine-fir, Douglas Fir-Larch, Hem-Fir tree, and southern yellow pine lumber; treated wood products; and newsprint, wood chips, and other residuals and energy products. The company also provides medium density fiberboard panels and plywood; laminated veneer lumber wood products; and northern bleached softwood Kraft pulp used to produce various paper products, including printing and writing papers, specialty grades, and various tissue products. In addition, it offers bleached chemical thermo-mechanical pulp that is used to produce coated board grades, printing and writing paper, and paper towel/napkin grades, as well as specialty papers and tissue grades. The company exports lumber to the Far East, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. was founded in 1955 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.

About Stora Enso Oyj

Stora Enso Oyj provides renewable solutions for the packaging, biomaterials, wooden constructions, and paper industries in Finland and internationally. It operates through Packaging Materials, Packaging Solutions, Biomaterials, Wood Products, Forest, Paper, and Other segments. The company's Packaging Materials segment offers virgin and recycled fiber replace fossil-based materials with low-carbon, renewable and recyclable packaging materials for food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and transport packaging. Its Packaging Solutions segment develops and sells fiber-based packaging products and services, including converting corrugated boards and carton boards; and new materials, such as formed fiber and wood foams into standard and bespoke packaging solutions for retail, e-commerce, and industrials. The company's Biomaterials segment provides various pulp for packaging, paper, tissue, specialties, and hygiene product producers; and tall oil and turpentine from biomass. Its Wood Products segment offers wood-based solutions, including digital tools for design and construction of building projects with wood; applications for windows and doors; and pellets for sustainable heating solutions. The company's Forest segment engages in sustainable forest management, as well as supplies wood. Its Paper segments offers portfolio of products for print and office use. The company's Other segment produces electricity and heat. It serves packaging manufacturers, brand owners, paper merchants, publishers, retailers, printing houses, converters, and construction companies. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland.