West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) vs. Magnera (NYSE:MAGN) Financial Review

Magnera (NYSE:MAGN) and West Fraser Timber (NYSE:WFG) are both materials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Magnera and West Fraser Timber, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Magnera	1	2	0	0	1.67
West Fraser Timber	1	3	4	0	2.38

Magnera presently has a consensus price target of $16.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.74%. West Fraser Timber has a consensus price target of $83.20, indicating a potential upside of 20.50%. Given Magnera’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Magnera is more favorable than West Fraser Timber.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Magnera and West Fraser Timber”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Magnera	$3.20 billion	0.13	-$159.00 million	($2.01)	-5.82
West Fraser Timber	$5.46 billion	0.99	-$937.00 million	($15.44)	-4.47

Magnera has higher earnings, but lower revenue than West Fraser Timber. Magnera 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.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.9% of Magnera shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.2% of West Fraser Timber shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Magnera shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of West Fraser Timber 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.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Magnera	-3.41%	-10.77%	-2.87%
West Fraser Timber	-22.98%	-10.84%	-8.19%

Volatility and Risk

Magnera has a beta of 1.73, indicating that its share price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, West Fraser Timber has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Summary

Magnera beats West Fraser Timber on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Magnera

Magnera’s purpose is to better the world with new possibilities made real. By continuously co-creating and innovating with our partners, we develop original material solutions that make a brighter future possible. With a breadth of technologies and a passion for what we create, Magnera’s solutions propel our customers’ goals forward and solve end-users’ problems, every day.

About West Fraser Timber

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd., a diversified wood products company, engages in manufacturing, selling, marketing, and distributing lumber, engineered wood products, pulp, newsprint, wood chips, and other residuals and renewable energy. It offers spruce-pine-fir, douglas fir-larch, hem-fir, and southern yellow pine lumber, treated wood products, medium density fiberboard panels and plywood, oriented strand board, and laminated veneer lumber wood products, as well as particleboards. The company also provides northern bleached softwood Kraft pulp and bleached chemical thermo-mechanical pulp used to produce various paper products, including printing and writing papers, paperboard products, tissue and towel products, and a variety of other paper grades. Further, it offers bioproducts, including bioenergy and biomaterial. Its products are used in home construction, repair and remodeling, papers, tissue, and box materials, and industrial applications. The company sells its products to major retail chains, contractor supply yards, and wholesalers, as well as industrial customers for further processing or as components for other products in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and internationally. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.