What are the investment strengths of Sonoco Products Co (SON)?

Operating margin of 9% vs industry median of 7.4% with ROE of 21.7% (vs median 8.9%) shows operational efficiency despite leverage P/E of 16.2x below industry median 22.9x and P/S of 0.59x at median - discount despite superior profitability metrics

What are the investment risks for Sonoco Products Co (SON)?

Goodwill of 2.5B is 75% of equity; total intangibles of 5.2B exceed equity - acquisition-heavy strategy creates write-down risk Interest coverage below 1x (EBIT 442M vs interest 235M = 1.9x, but pretax only 207M) signals earnings quality concerns

Sonoco Products Co

SON

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Sonoco Products Co AI Insights

Informational only. Not investment advice.

As of 2025-12-10

Snapshot

Tangible book value is -1.9B due to 5.2B in goodwill/intangibles (157% of equity) - significant impairment risk if acquisitions underperform[Tangible Book Value]
EPS TTM grew 208% vs revenue growth of 57% - margin expansion or one-time items driving outsized earnings leverage[EPS Growth 1yr]
Debt/equity of 1.63x with 5.4B total debt vs 245M cash - interest expense of 235M TTM exceeds pretax income of 207M[Debt to Equity]

Watch Triggers

Goodwill: Any impairment charge announced — 2.5B goodwill impairment would eliminate 75% of equity, potentially triggering covenant issues
Free Cash Flow TTM: Falls below 250M — Current 298M barely covers 210M+ dividend; decline forces dividend cut or more debt
Interest Expense TTM: Rises above 250M — Already consuming most of pretax income; higher rates compress earnings further

Bull Case

Operating margin of 9% vs industry median of 7.4% with ROE of 21.7% (vs median 8.9%) shows operational efficiency despite leverage

Operating Margin TTMROE TTM

P/E of 16.2x below industry median 22.9x and P/S of 0.59x at median - discount despite superior profitability metrics

PE RatioPS Ratio

Bear Case

Goodwill of 2.5B is 75% of equity; total intangibles of 5.2B exceed equity - acquisition-heavy strategy creates write-down risk

GoodwillGoodwill and Other Intangible Assets

Interest coverage below 1x (EBIT 442M vs interest 235M = 1.9x, but pretax only 207M) signals earnings quality concerns

Interest Expense TTMPretax Income TTM

Bull vs Bear Balance

AI-generated sentiment analysis based on fundamental metrics and market conditions.

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Forward Thesis

Debt servicing will constrain capital allocation flexibility over next 1-3 years

1-3yhigh

Interest expense (235M TTM) exceeds pretax income (207M)
Net debt of 4.9B vs FCF of 298M = 16+ years to delever
Current debt of 1.4B due near-term with only 245M cash

Debt/equity 1.63x vs equity of 3.3BFCF TTM 298M, dividend payout 2.10/shareNet debt repayment of 261M TTM

Valuation Context

Caveats

Public Strategies Rankings

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SON Fundamentals

Manufacturing → Paper Manufacturing

Metric	Value	YoY Growth	Industry Percentile
Market Cap	$5.39B		—
Enterprise Value	$10.55B		—
P/E Ratio	8.6		—
Total Revenue - TTM	$7.11B	+8.2%	—
Earnings Per Share (diluted) - TTM	$6.30	-28.2%	—
Operating Margin - TTM	9.01%	-0.2%	—
Net Margin - TTM	8.82%	+4.4%	—
Free Cash Flow - TTM	$297.79M	-8.1%	—
Return on Common Equity - TTM	21.7%	+9.7%	—
Beta 5Y (Monthly)	unknown		—

SON Dividend History

105 dividends

2026

$0.5300

02/25/26$0.5300

2025

$2.1100

11/10/25$0.5300

08/08/25$0.5300

05/09/25$0.5300

02/26/25$0.5200

2024

$2.0700

11/08/24$0.5200

08/09/24$0.5200

05/09/24$0.5200

02/27/24$0.5100

2023

$2.0200

11/09/23$0.5100

08/09/23$0.5100

05/09/23$0.5100

02/21/23$0.4900

2022

$1.9200

11/09/22$0.4900

08/09/22$0.4900

05/09/22$0.4900

02/22/22$0.4500

2021

$1.8000

11/09/21$0.4500

08/09/21$0.4500

05/07/21$0.4500

02/23/21$0.4500

2020

$1.7200

11/09/20$0.4300

08/07/20$0.4300

05/07/20$0.4300

02/25/20$0.4300

2019

$1.7000

11/07/19$0.4300

08/08/19$0.4300

05/09/19$0.4300

02/26/19$0.4100

2018

$1.6200

11/08/18$0.4100

08/09/18$0.4100

05/10/18$0.4100

02/27/18$0.3900

2017

$1.5400

11/09/17$0.3900

08/09/17$0.3900

05/10/17$0.3900

02/17/17$0.3700

2016

$1.4600

11/08/16$0.3700

08/10/16$0.3700

05/11/16$0.3700

02/22/16$0.3500

2015

$1.3700

11/10/15$0.3500

08/12/15$0.3500

05/13/15$0.3500

02/23/15$0.3200

2014

$1.2700

11/12/14$0.3200

08/13/14$0.3200

05/14/14$0.3200

02/24/14$0.3100

2013

$1.2300

11/13/13$0.3100

08/14/13$0.3100

05/15/13$0.3100

02/25/13$0.3000

2012

$1.1900

11/14/12$0.3000

08/15/12$0.3000

05/16/12$0.3000

02/15/12$0.2900

2011

$1.1500

11/16/11$0.2900

08/17/11$0.2900

05/11/11$0.2900

02/16/11$0.2800

2010

$1.1100

11/17/10$0.2800

08/18/10$0.2800

05/12/10$0.2800

02/17/10$0.2700

2009

$1.0800

11/18/09$0.2700

08/19/09$0.2700

05/13/09$0.2700

02/18/09$0.2700

2008

$1.0700

11/19/08$0.2700

08/13/08$0.2700

05/14/08$0.2700

02/20/08$0.2600

2007

$1.0200

11/14/07$0.2600

08/15/07$0.2600

05/16/07$0.2600

02/21/07$0.2400

2006

$0.9500

11/15/06$0.2400

08/16/06$0.2400

05/17/06$0.2400

02/15/06$0.2300

2005

$0.9100

11/16/05$0.2300

08/17/05$0.2300

05/18/05$0.2300

02/16/05$0.2200

2004

$0.8700

11/17/04$0.2200

08/18/04$0.2200

05/19/04$0.2200

02/18/04$0.2100

2003

$0.8400

11/19/03$0.2100

08/13/03$0.2100

05/14/03$0.2100

02/19/03$0.2100

2002

$0.8300

11/13/02$0.2100

08/14/02$0.2100

05/15/02$0.2100

02/20/02$0.2000

2001

$0.8000

11/14/01$0.2000

08/15/01$0.2000

05/16/01$0.2000

02/21/01$0.2000

2000

$0.7900

11/15/00$0.2000

08/16/00$0.2000

05/17/00$0.2000

02/16/00$0.1900

SON Stock Splits

No stock splits

SON SEC Filings

Filing Date	Report Date	Report Type	Filing Link
10/29/25	09/28/25	10-Q	0000091767-25-000045
07/28/25	06/29/25	10-Q	0000091767-25-000037
05/02/25	03/30/25	10-Q	0000091767-25-000023
02/28/25	12/31/24	Unknown	0000091767-25-000014
11/01/24	09/29/24	10-Q	0000091767-24-000060
08/01/24	06/30/24	10-Q	0000091767-24-000048
05/01/24	03/31/24	10-Q	0000091767-24-000029
02/28/24	12/31/23	10-K	0000091767-24-000012
11/02/23	10/01/23	10-Q	0000091767-23-000065
08/02/23	07/02/23	10-Q	0000091767-23-000044
05/03/23	04/02/23	10-Q	0000091767-23-000020
02/28/23	12/31/22	10-K	0000091767-23-000008
11/02/22	10/02/22	10-Q	0000091767-22-000062
08/02/22	07/03/22	10-Q	0000091767-22-000051
05/03/22	04/03/22	10-Q	0000091767-22-000033
02/28/22	12/31/21	10-K	0000091767-22-000014
11/02/21	10/03/21	10-Q	0000091767-21-000077
08/03/21	07/04/21	10-Q	0000091767-21-000071
05/04/21	04/04/21	10-Q	0000091767-21-000032
02/26/21	12/31/20	10-K	0000091767-21-000011
11/12/21	09/27/20	10-Q/A	0000091767-21-000080
10/30/20	09/27/20	10-Q	0000091767-20-000083
07/29/20	06/28/20	10-Q	0000091767-20-000072
05/06/20	03/29/20	10-Q	0000091767-20-000053
02/28/20	12/31/19	10-K	0000091767-20-000033
10/30/19	09/29/19	10-Q	0000091767-19-000071
07/31/19	06/30/19	10-Q	0000091767-19-000054
05/01/19	03/31/19	10-Q	0000091767-19-000028
02/28/19	12/31/18	10-K	0000091767-19-000015
10/31/18	09/30/18	10-Q	0000091767-18-000060
08/01/18	07/01/18	10-Q	0000091767-18-000041
05/02/18	04/01/18	10-Q	0000091767-18-000026
02/28/18	12/31/17	10-K	0001193125-18-063468
11/01/17	10/01/17	10-Q	0000091767-17-000060
08/02/17	07/02/17	10-Q	0000091767-17-000050
05/03/17	04/02/17	10-Q	0000091767-17-000026
03/01/17	12/31/16	10-K	0001193125-17-064495
11/02/16	10/02/16	10-Q	0000091767-16-000136
08/03/16	07/03/16	10-Q	0000091767-16-000125
05/06/16	04/03/16	10-Q	0000091767-16-000112
02/29/16	12/31/15	10-K	0001193125-16-485573
10/28/15	09/27/15	10-Q	0000091767-15-000071
08/26/15	06/28/15	10-Q	0000091767-15-000056
04/29/15	03/29/15	10-Q	0000091767-15-000022
03/02/15	12/31/14	10-K	0001193125-15-072931
10/29/14	09/28/14	10-Q	0000091767-14-000060
07/29/14	06/29/14	10-Q	0000091767-14-000045
08/28/15	03/30/14	10-Q/A	0000091767-15-000060
04/30/14	03/30/14	10-Q	0000091767-14-000031
03/03/14	12/31/13	10-K	0001193125-14-079079
10/31/13	09/29/13	10-Q	0000091767-13-000004
07/31/13	06/30/13	10-Q	0001193125-13-311598
05/01/13	03/31/13	10-Q	0001193125-13-189877
03/01/13	12/31/12	10-K	0001193125-13-086675
08/26/15	12/31/12	10-K/A	0000091767-15-000055
11/01/12	09/30/12	10-Q	0001193125-12-445343
08/01/12	07/01/12	10-Q	0001193125-12-327179
05/01/12	04/01/12	10-Q	0001193125-12-198600
02/29/12	12/31/11	10-K	0001193125-12-088468
11/02/11	10/02/11	10-Q	0001193125-11-291966
08/05/11	07/03/11	10-Q	0000950123-11-073276
05/03/11	04/03/11	10-Q	0000950123-11-043430
02/28/11	12/31/10	10-K	0001193125-11-048615
10/25/10	09/26/10	10-Q	0000950123-10-095599
07/29/10	06/27/10	10-Q	0000950123-10-069540
04/28/10	03/28/10	10-Q	0000950123-10-039299
02/26/10	12/31/09	10-K	0001193125-10-042088
10/27/09	09/27/09	10-Q	0000950123-09-053518
07/28/09	06/28/09	10-Q	0000950123-09-026171
04/28/09	03/29/09	10-Q	0000950144-09-003598
02/27/09	12/31/08	10-K	0001193125-09-040463
10/29/08	09/30/08	Unknown	--
07/30/08	06/30/08	Unknown	--
04/29/08	03/31/08	10-Q	0000950144-08-003315
02/28/08	12/31/07	10-K	0001193125-08-041845
10/30/07	09/30/07	10-Q	0000950144-07-009697
07/31/07	06/30/07	Unknown	--
05/01/07	03/30/07	Unknown	--
02/28/07	12/31/06	10-K	0000950144-07-001705
10/25/06	09/30/06	Unknown	--
07/27/06	06/30/06	Unknown	--
04/28/06	03/30/06	Unknown	--
02/27/06	12/31/05	10-K	0000950144-06-001529
10/27/05	09/30/05	Unknown	--
07/28/05	06/30/05	Unknown	--
04/28/05	03/30/05	Unknown	--
03/02/05	12/31/04	10-K	0000950144-05-001972
11/03/04	09/30/04	Unknown	--
07/29/04	06/30/04	Unknown	--
05/06/04	03/30/04	Unknown	--
03/02/04	12/31/03	10-K	0000950144-04-001875
11/10/03	09/30/03	4	0000091767-03-000099
08/05/03	06/30/03	Unknown	--
05/06/03	03/31/03	10-Q	0000950144-03-006159
03/07/03	12/31/02	10-K	0000950144-03-002818
11/12/02	09/30/02	Unknown	--
08/13/02	06/30/02	10-Q	0000950144-02-008452
05/09/02	03/30/02	Unknown	--
03/28/02	12/31/01	10-K	0000950144-02-002927
11/14/01	09/30/01	10-Q	0000950144-01-509062
08/13/01	06/30/01	Unknown	--
05/16/01	03/30/01	Unknown	--
03/30/01	12/31/00	10-K	0000950144-01-004381
11/15/00	09/30/00	Unknown	--
08/15/00	06/30/00	Unknown	--
05/12/00	03/30/00	Unknown	--