Suzano (SUZ) & The Competition Critical Analysis

Suzano (NYSE:SUZ) is one of 17 publicly-traded companies in the “Paper mills” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Suzano to similar companies based on the strength of its dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Dividends

Suzano pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Suzano pays out 9.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Paper mills” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.7% and pay out 57.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Suzano has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Suzano and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Suzano	47.44%	64.65%	17.21%
Suzano Competitors	7.59%	18.89%	6.66%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

2.6% of Suzano shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.7% of shares of all “Paper mills” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of shares of all “Paper mills” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Suzano has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its stock price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Suzano’s rivals have a beta of 1.32, suggesting that their average stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Suzano and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Suzano	$9.65 billion	$4.53 billion	3.13
Suzano Competitors	$5.57 billion	$686.61 million	28.88

Suzano has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Suzano is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Suzano and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Suzano	0	0	1	0	3.00
Suzano Competitors	112	706	471	47	2.34

As a group, “Paper mills” companies have a potential upside of 25.68%. Given Suzano’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Suzano has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

Suzano beats its rivals on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Suzano

Suzano S.A. produces and sells eucalyptus pulp and paper products in Brazil and internationally. It operates through Pulp and Paper segments. The company offers coated and uncoated printing and writing papers, paperboards, tissue papers, and market and fluff pulps; and lignin. It also engages in the research, development, and production of biofuel; operation of port terminals; power generation and distribution business; commercialization of equipment and parts; industrialization, commercialization, and exporting of pulp and standing wood; road freight transport; biotechnology research and development; and commercialization of paper and computer materials. In addition, the company is involved in the business office, production packaging, and financial fundraising activities; research, development, production, commercialization, and distribution of wood-based textile fibers, yarns, and filaments produced from cellulose and microfibrillated cellulose; and research and development of wood raw materials for the textile industry. Suzano S.A. was formerly known as Suzano Papel e Celulose S.A. and changed its name to Suzano S.A. in April 2019. The company was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Salvador, Brazil.