Non-Energy Materials

Containers and Packaging

15 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today33rd percentile

Dearer than in 55% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 25th to 53rd percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 33rd. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is in its usual range on the multiple, and returns on assets are in their usual range. Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 77% of quarters). A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Earning about normally

Return on assets ranks at the 61st percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 59th and a low of the 24th since 1999. That is close to its usual level, so today's multiple is about right on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely stay about where it is: from the 33rd percentile today (cheaper than 67% of investable US stocks), around the 32nd, judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level. If returns fell to their low, it would be around the 54th (about the middle of the market).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	61st	59th (median)	24th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	33rd	32nd	54th

Containers and Packaging's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (56 quarters) and of their low (14). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleUsual rangePercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 55% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldLower than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 77% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldNear its highestDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 97% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldNear its highestPercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 91% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrUsual rangePercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Higher than in 60% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityLeast debt on recordPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. Less indebted than in 100% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeUsual rangePercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Smaller than in 55% of quarters since 1999.

Containers and Packaging stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

Stock	Screen	Acquirer's Multiple	FCF yield	Shareholder yield

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Other Non-Energy Materials industries

Metal Ore Mining cheaper than 95%Construction Materials cheaper than 70%Commodity Chemicals dearer than 54%Other Mining dearer than 58%Metal Products dearer than 69%Other Materials dearer than 73%Specialty and Performance Chemicals dearer than 90%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.