Analyzing Greif (NYSE:GEF) and Myers Industries (NYSE:MYE)

Myers Industries (NYSE:MYE) and Greif (NYSE:GEF) are both materials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Myers Industries and Greif, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Myers Industries	0	1	2	0	2.67
Greif	1	3	1	0	2.00

Myers Industries currently has a consensus target price of $37.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.77%. Greif has a consensus target price of $83.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.49%. Given Myers Industries’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Myers Industries is more favorable than Greif.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Myers Industries and Greif”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Myers Industries	$825.74 million	1.40	$34.93 million	$0.97	31.59
Greif	$3.93 billion	0.96	$840.00 million	$3.19	25.64

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.8% of Myers Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.7% of Greif shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Myers Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.7% of Greif shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Myers Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Greif pays an annual dividend of $2.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Myers Industries pays out 55.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Greif pays out 77.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Greif has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Greif is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Myers Industries has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Greif has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Myers Industries and Greif’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Myers Industries	4.86%	19.86%	6.88%
Greif	7.53%	8.09%	3.86%

Summary

Myers Industries beats Greif on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Myers Industries

Myers Industries, Inc. engages in distribution of tire service supplies in Ohio. It operates through two segments, The Material Handling and Distribution. The Material Handling segment offers pallets, small parts bins, bulk shipping containers, and OEM parts, as well as storage and organization, and custom plastic products; and injection molded, rotationally molded or blow molded products, consumer fuel containers and tanks for water, fuel, and waste handling. It serves industrial manufacturing, food processing, retail/wholesale products distribution, agriculture, automotive, recreational and marine vehicles, healthcare, appliance, bakery, electronics, textiles, consumer markets, and other markets under Akro-Mils, Jamco, Buckhorn, Ameri-Kart, Scepter, Elkhart Plastics, Trilogy Plastics, and Signature Systems brands directly to end-users, as well as through distributors. The Distribution segment engages in the distribution of tools, equipment, and supplies for tire, wheel, and under-vehicle service on passenger, heavy truck, and off-road vehicles; and manufacture and sale of tire repair materials and custom rubber products, as well as reflective highway marking tapes under the Myers Tire Supply, Myers Tire Supply International, Tuffy Manufacturing, Mohawk Rubber Sales, Patch Rubber Company, Elrick, Fleetline, MTS, Seymoure, Advance Traffic Markings, and MXP brands. This segment serves retail and truck tire dealers, commercial auto and truck fleets, auto dealers, general service and repair centers, tire re-treaders, truck stop operations, and government agencies. Myers Industries, Inc. was founded in 1933 and is headquartered in Akron, Ohio.

About Greif

Greif, Inc. engages in the production and sale of industrial packaging products and services worldwide. The company operates through Global Industrial Packaging; Paper Packaging & Services; and Land Management segments. The Global Industrial Packaging segment produces and sells industrial packaging products, including steel, fiber, and plastic drums; rigid and flexible intermediate bulk containers; closure systems for industrial packaging products; transit protection products; water bottles, and remanufactured and reconditioned industrial containers; and various services, such as container life cycle management, filling, logistics, warehousing, and other packaging services to chemicals, paints and pigments, food and beverage, petroleum, industrial coatings, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, mineral product, and other industries. The Paper Packaging & Services segment produces and sells containerboards, corrugated sheets and containers, and other corrugated and specialty products to customers in the packaging, automotive, food, and building products markets; and produces and sells coated and uncoated recycled paperboard, and recycled fiber. This segment's corrugated container products are used to ship various products, such as home appliances, small machinery, grocery products, automotive components, books, and furniture, as well as various other applications. The Land Management segment engages in harvesting and regeneration of timber properties; and sale of timberland and special use properties. As of October 31, 2023, this segment owned approximately 175,000 acres of timber properties in the southeastern United States. The company was formerly known as Greif Bros. Corporation and changed its name to Greif, Inc. in 2001. Greif, Inc. was founded in 1877 and is headquartered in Delaware, Ohio.