IP vs SUZ: How International Paper and Suzano Compare (2026)

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: SUZ is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. IP and SUZ share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined IP and SUZ exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

International Paper is a leading global producer of fiber-based packaging, pulp, and related products, best known for corrugated containers and the containerboard that goes into them. Its boxes carry everything from food and beverages to e-commerce shipments and industrial goods, so demand broadly tracks consumer and industrial activity. The company sells mainly to businesses rather than consumers, and its economics turn on containerboard pricing, box volumes, input costs like fiber and energy, and mill utilization. As a large, capital-intensive manufacturer, it competes on cost, scale, and its distribution and converting network.

Full IP guide

Suzano grows eucalyptus in Brazil, converts it into bleached hardwood kraft pulp, and ships it to tissue, printing and specialty paper makers worldwide. Pulp is roughly ~75% of revenue and paper roughly ~25% in the most recent reporting period. The Cerrado mill at Ribas do Rio Pardo in Mato Grosso do Sul, which started up in mid-2024 at about ~2.55 million tonnes of annual capacity, is the largest single-line pulp mill ever built and took total capacity above ~11 million tonnes a year. The company also owns Portocel, the only dedicated pulp port terminal in Brazil, sells printing and writing brands including Report and Reciclato, runs Brazilian tissue lines, and has pushed downstream through the Pine Bluff, Arkansas paperboard mill acquired from Pactiv Evergreen, a 51% joint venture with Kimberly-Clark's international tissue and professional business, and a minority equity stake in the Austrian fibre maker Lenzing.

Full SUZ guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• IP drivers: DS Smith integration and global scale; Cost cuts and footprint optimization.
• SUZ drivers: Cost position on the fibre curve; Cerrado volume converting into cash.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The main risk is cyclicality: box volumes and containerboard pricing move with consumer and industrial activity, so an economic slowdown can reduce demand and pressure pricing and margins, as recent low-single-digit volume softness showed. For SUZ, suzano is a price taker in a commodity set in dollars per tonne, so a soft bleached hardwood kraft market compresses earnings no matter how well the mills run.

Pick IP if you believe its drivers more; SUZ if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the IP and SUZ guides.

IP. Figures are approximate and tied to the asOf date; verify live numbers before acting. Packaging producers like International Paper are cyclical, so trailing earnings can be distorted by restructuring charges and where box volumes and containerboard prices sit in the cycle. That makes forward margins, synergy capture, and the value the market assigns to the two separated companies more important to the thesis than a single point-in-time earnings multiple.

SUZ. A mid-single-digit earnings multiple on a company with a record sales year usually means the market is pricing the cycle rather than the quarter, and trailing net income of about ~R$11.4 billion includes non-cash currency gains that will not repeat in the same direction. Enterprise value including net debt is roughly ~$23 billion against an equity value of about ~$10.3 billion, so the debt is a larger claim on the business than the stock is. Both the multiple and the yield are functions of a pulp price that Suzano publishes but does not control.

Headline figures (approximate, Jul 2026): IP shows transformation Completed DS Smith acquisition (Jan 2025); planned geographic split announced early 2026, synergy target At least several hundred million dollars from the DS Smith combination, 2025 segment strength North American packaging adjusted EBITDA grew sharply with margin expansion, 2026 earnings Expected to absorb substantial restructuring charges from footprint actions; SUZ shows revenue (ttm) ~R$49.5 billion (roughly ~$9.7 billion), net income (ttm) ~R$11.4 billion, price to earnings ~4.8x, market capitalisation ~$10.3 billion.

IP and SUZ are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined IP and SUZ exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.