Graphic Packaging vs Packaging Corporation of America
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Packaging Corporation of America is the larger business, with $9.0B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $8.6B for Graphic Packaging.
- Packaging Corporation of America grew revenue faster (7.2%, against −2.2%).
- Packaging Corporation of America kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (12.3% operating margin, against 9.3%).
- Packaging Corporation of America turned more of its sales into free cash flow (8.1% FCF margin, against −0.9%).
- Packaging Corporation of America earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (11.8%, against 7.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Packaging Corporation of America’s earnings: a P/E of 32.1x against 13.3x for Graphic Packaging.
| Latest fiscal year | GPK · FY25 | PKG · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.6B | $22.0B |
| Revenue | $8.6B | $9.0B |
| Free cash flow | −$81.0M | $729M |
| Net income | $444M | $774M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −2.2% | 7.2% |
| 5-year growth | 5.6% | 6.2% |
| Share count change | −1.7% | 0.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 18.6% | 21.0% |
| Operating margin | 9.3% | 12.3% |
| Net margin | 5.2% | 8.6% |
| FCF margin | −0.9% | 8.1% |
| Return on capital | 7.3% | 11.8% |
| Return on equity | 14.0% | 17.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $5.3B | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.0x | 1.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $278M | $603M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 13.3x | 32.1x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 4 |
Revenue
FY16
GPK $4.3B
PKG $5.8B
FY17
GPK $4.4B
PKG $6.4B
FY18
GPK $6.0B
PKG $7.0B
FY19
GPK $6.2B
PKG $7.0B
FY20
GPK $6.6B
PKG $6.7B
FY21
GPK $7.2B
PKG $7.7B
FY22
GPK $9.4B
PKG $8.5B
FY23
GPK $9.4B
PKG $7.8B
FY24
GPK $8.8B
PKG $8.4B
FY25
GPK $8.6B
PKG $9.0B
GPK
PKG
Operating margin
FY16
GPK 9.5%
PKG 13.6%
FY17
GPK 7.4%
PKG 14.5%
FY18
GPK 7.6%
PKG 15.2%
FY19
GPK 8.7%
PKG 15.1%
FY20
GPK 8.0%
PKG 10.9%
FY21
GPK 5.7%
PKG 16.1%
FY22
GPK 9.6%
PKG 16.8%
FY23
GPK 12.5%
PKG 13.8%
FY24
GPK 12.7%
PKG 13.1%
FY25
GPK 9.3%
PKG 12.3%
GPK
PKG
Free cash flow
FY16
GPK −$205M
PKG $533M
FY17
GPK −$433M
PKG $513M
FY18
GPK −$753M
PKG $629M
FY19
GPK $335M
PKG $808M
FY20
GPK $209M
PKG $612M
FY21
GPK −$166M
PKG $489M
FY22
GPK $568M
PKG $671M
FY23
GPK $340M
PKG $845M
FY24
GPK −$363M
PKG $522M
FY25
GPK −$81.0M
PKG $729M
GPK
PKG
Return on capital
FY16
GPK 9.5%
PKG 12.9%
FY17
GPK 9.9%
PKG 17.1%
FY18
GPK 9.3%
PKG 17.2%
FY19
GPK 8.8%
PKG 16.6%
FY20
GPK 8.6%
PKG 11.1%
FY21
GPK 4.7%
PKG 18.7%
FY22
GPK 8.9%
PKG 19.2%
FY23
GPK 11.9%
PKG 14.1%
FY24
GPK 10.3%
PKG 14.0%
FY25
GPK 7.3%
PKG 11.8%
GPK
PKG
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.