Critical Comparison: Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) versus TriMas (NASDAQ:TRS)

TriMas (NASDAQ:TRS) and Ranpak (NYSE:PACK) are both small-cap materials companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

TriMas has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ranpak has a beta of 3.11, suggesting that its stock price is 211% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for TriMas and Ranpak, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TriMas	0	1	3	0	2.75
Ranpak	1	1	2	0	2.25

TriMas presently has a consensus price target of $41.50, indicating a potential upside of 5.33%. Ranpak has a consensus price target of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 4.01%. Given TriMas’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe TriMas is more favorable than Ranpak.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares TriMas and Ranpak”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TriMas	$1.04 billion	1.36	$120.14 million	$24.33	1.62
Ranpak	$395.00 million	0.73	-$38.30 million	($0.40)	-8.41

TriMas has higher revenue and earnings than Ranpak. Ranpak is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TriMas, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares TriMas and Ranpak’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TriMas	117.63%	5.20%	3.10%
Ranpak	-8.28%	-6.65%	-3.15%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.4% of TriMas shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.9% of Ranpak shares are held by institutional investors. 17.5% of TriMas shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Ranpak shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

TriMas beats Ranpak on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TriMas

TriMas Corporation engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of products for consumer products, aerospace, and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates through Packaging, Aerospace, and Specialty Products segments. The Packaging segment offers dispensing products, such as foaming and sanitizer pumps, lotion and hand soap pumps, beverage dispensers, perfume sprayers, and nasal and trigger sprayers; polymeric and steel caps and closures comprising food lids, flip-top and beverage closures, child resistance caps, drum and pail closures, and flexible spouts; polymeric jar products; integrated dispensers; bag-in-box products; and consumable vascular delivery and diagnostic test components under the Rieke, Taplast, Affaba & Ferrari, Intertech, Omega, and Rapak brands. The Aerospace segment provides fasteners, collars, blind bolts, rivets, ducting, and connectors for air management systems, and other highly-machined parts and components to original equipment manufacturers, supply chain distributors, and tier one suppliers, as well as maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)/aftermarket providers; and military and defense aerospace applications and platforms under the Monogram Aerospace Fasteners, Allfast Fastening Systems, Mac Fasteners, TFI Aerospace, RSA Engineered Products, and Martinic Engineering brands. The Specialty Products segment offers steel cylinders for use in the transportation, storage, and dispensing of compressed gases under the Norris Cylinder brand; natural gas powered wellhead engines, compressors, and replacement parts for oil and natural gas production, and other industrial and commercial markets under the Arrow brand; and spare parts for various industrial engines. It sells its products through a direct sales force, third-party agents, and distributors. TriMas Corporation was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

About Ranpak

Ranpak Holdings Corp., together with its subsidiaries, provides product protection solutions and end-of-line automation solutions for e-commerce and industrial supply chains in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company offers protective packaging solutions, such as void-fill protective systems that convert paper to fill empty spaces in secondary packages and protect objects under the FillPak brand; cushioning protective systems, which convert paper into cushioning pads under the PadPak brand; and wrapping protective systems that create pads or paper mesh to wrap and protect fragile items, as well as to line boxes and provide separation when shipping various objects under the WrapPak, Geami, and ReadyRoll brands, as well as cold chain products, which are used to provide insulation for goods. It also offers end-of-line packaging automation products, which help end users automate the void filling and box closure processes after product packing is complete. The company sells its products to end users primarily through a distributor network, and directly to select end-users. Ranpak Holdings Corp. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Concord Township, Ohio.