Analyzing Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing (OTCMKTS:LMPMF) and Stora Enso Oyj (OTCMKTS:SEOAY)

Stora Enso Oyj (OTCMKTS:SEOAY) and Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing (OTCMKTS:LMPMF) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Stora Enso Oyj shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.2% of Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Stora Enso Oyj shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Stora Enso Oyj and Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stora Enso Oyj	1	3	1	0	2.00
Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing	0	0	0	0	0.00

Stora Enso Oyj presently has a consensus target price of $10.80, indicating a potential downside of 5.35%. Given Stora Enso Oyj’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Stora Enso Oyj is more favorable than Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing.

Profitability

This table compares Stora Enso Oyj and Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stora Enso Oyj	6.20%	2.38%	1.30%
Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Stora Enso Oyj pays an annual dividend of $0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing pays an annual dividend of $0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 34.8%. Stora Enso Oyj pays out 17.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing pays out 36.3% 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Stora Enso Oyj and Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stora Enso Oyj	$10.55 billion	0.85	$786.32 million	$0.84	13.58
Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.40	1.04

Stora Enso Oyj has higher revenue and earnings than Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing. Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stora Enso Oyj, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Stora Enso Oyj beats Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing

Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Limited, an investment holding company, engages in the manufacture and trading of packaging papers, pulps, and tissue papers in the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Macau, and Hong Kong. The company operates through Packaging Paper, Tissue Paper, and Pulp segments. It offers various pulp products, such as dissolved pulps for use in viscose chemical fibers, bamboo fibers, glass papers, acetate fibers, refined rayons, etc.; unbleached bamboo kraft pulps for use in ecru life papers, environmental table wares, food bags, etc.; and bleached bamboo kraft pulps for use in tissue papers, fine papers, cigarette papers, cup papers, etc. The company also provides containerboard products, including kraft and test linerboards for use in cartons, graphic carton, paper bags, file boxes, paperboards, wall papers, etc.; and corrugating liners for use in corrugated layer and septi-layer of paperboards, and honeycomb-like products. In addition, it offers coated duplex board products for use in graphic cartons, color card printing, and offset printing, as well as in packaging of commodities, household appliances, IT products, medicine/health care products, food products, toys, gifts, ceramic products, stationery products, beverages, etc.; toilet rolls; and unbleached paper for use in various applications, such as baby care, menstruation, facial, sensitive skin, table, kitchen, etc. Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Limited was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in North Point, Hong Kong.