WestRock Company WRK completed its previously announced acquisition of the assets of Island Container Corp. and Combined Container Industries LLC. The buyout will help WestRock tap the growing demand for corrugated packaging.

The Island Container and Combined Container Industries are two independent producers of corrugated boxes, sheets and point-of-purchase displays. Both the companies cater to customers in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food markets in the northeastern U.S.

The assets acquired by WestRock include a corrugator and the corrugated converting operations located in Wheatley Heights, New York, as well as certain related fulfillment assets located in Saddle Brook, NJ. This acquisition will enable WestRock to integrate more than 80,000 tons of containerboard into its corrugated packaging business.

Westrock Company Price

Westrock Company Price | Westrock Company Quote

WestRock has been extremely active in the acquisition space, of late. On Jun 7, the company acquired Multi Packaging Solutions International Limited to enhance its differentiated portfolio of paper and packaging solutions. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to WestRock’s financial results.

WestRock also purchased five corrugated converting facilities of U.S. Corrugated Holdings, Inc on Jun 12. The buyout will provide significant synergy opportunities through containerboard integration, increased production and improved performance. These buyouts will enable it to capitalize on the growing global corrugated packaging market.

Moreover, WestRock is likely to gain from higher volumes, productivity and performance improvement programs across its manufacturing footprint, cost-saving actions, and focus on execution of capital allocation strategy.

Driven by these factors, the stock gained around 39.17% in the past one year, outperforming the Zacks categorized Paper and Related Products sub-industry's gain of 31.47%.

WestRock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the same sector are Agnico Eagle Mines Limited AEM, Ternium S.A. TX and UPM-Kymmene Oyj UPMKY. All three stocks boast a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Agnico Eagle Mines has an average positive earnings surprise of 12.24% for the trailing four quarters. Ternium generated an average positive earnings surprise of 19.98% over the past four quarters. UPM-Kymmene has an average positive earnings surprise of 5.13% for the trailing four quarters.

5 Trades Could Profit "Big-League" from Trump Policies

If the stocks above spark your interest, wait until you look into companies primed to make substantial gains from Washington's changing course.

Today Zacks reveals 5 tickers that could benefit from new trends like streamlined drug approvals, tariffs, lower taxes, higher interest rates, and spending surges in defense and infrastructure. See these buy recommendations now >>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
UPM-Kymmene Corp. (UPMKY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Westrock Company (WRK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Ternium S.A. (TX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research