Packaging Corporation of America reported Q1 2026 EPS of $2.40 (ex-items), slightly above guidance. Q2 guide of $2.33 includes cost headwinds from freight, chemicals, and stock comp, partially offset by strong demand and later price increases. The acquired Greif operations are expected to become accretive in Q2 as seasonality and productivity improve. The company sees tight containerboard supply, no pre-buy, and is implementing price hikes gradually. Q1 EPS $2.40 vs guidance of $2.20, driven by operational and commercial strength; margins improved.
Packaging Corporation of America reported Q1 2026 EPS of $2.40 (ex-items), slightly above guidance. Q2 guide of $2.33 includes cost headwinds from freight, chemicals, and stock comp, partially offset by strong demand and later price increases. The acquired Greif operations are expected to become accretive in Q2 as seasonality and productivity improve. The company sees tight containerboard supply, no pre-buy, and is implementing price hikes gradually. Q1 EPS $2.40 vs guidance of $2.20, driven by operational and commercial strength; margins improved.
Packaging Corporation of America reported Q1 2026 EPS of $2.40 (ex-items), slightly above guidance. Q2 guide of $2.33 includes cost headwinds from freight, chemicals, and stock comp, partially offset by strong demand and later price increases. The acquired Greif operations are…
Management expresses confidence in strong demand, operational performance, and future pricing benefits, despite cost headwinds.
Legacy corrugated shipments up 2.8% per day, record Q1. Management expresses confidence in strong demand, operational performance, and future pricing benefits, despite cost headwinds.
Greif acquisition underwhelmed in Q1 (loss of 6¢/share) due to storm, seasonality, and high costs; improvement expected in Q2 with 10¢ sequential gain.
Legacy corrugated shipments up 2.8% per day, record Q1. Management expresses confidence in strong demand, operational performance, and future pricing benefits, despite cost headwinds.
Management approved gas turbine projects for Jackson and Riverville mills and is scoping a third for DeRidder to make mills electricity independent, similar to Valdosta. CapEx guidance is 840-870 million for 2026.
Management expresses confidence in strong demand, operational performance, and future pricing benefits, despite cost headwinds.
“We expect to start to see the benefit during May with the normal implementation period beginning in June.”
“obviously, we will have higher freight costs with higher diesel fuel prices expected to continue into the second quarter.”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capex | FY2026 | $0.84B–$0.87B | $0.855B | MAINTAINED |
| EPS | FY2026 Q2 | $2.33 | $2.33 | INITIATED |
| Issued | Metric | Target | Guide | Actual | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 Q4 | EPS | FY2026 Q1 | $2.20 | $2.40 | Met / beat |
| FY2025 Q3 | EPS | FY2025 Q4 | $2.40 | $2.32 | Missed |
The acquired Greif containerboard business is expected to improve earnings sequentially due to seasonality, productivity gains, and integration synergies.
“We expect to be accretive in the second quarter and going forward.”
Maybe just first starting a little bit more on Grife, trying to square. So if we look at the last six months based on kind of the EPS number, I mean, it seems to me it's probably a little less than $100 million in EBITDA from the business. And I believe kind of coming in, the base was close to 240, and then we were going to get synergies on top. And I realize maybe synergies show up in the legacy business as well, so maybe this is kind of complicating the analysis. But I'm really sort of just trying to gauge the magnitude of upside from things like seasonality, et cetera, et cetera, of how much additional firepower is there relative to what we've seen in Grife over the last six months when…
Okay, Mark, it's Kent. I will start, and then Tom will add some color on this, okay? Okay. Going from 1Q into 2Q, we believe now we're going to get the full performance out of this business. You know, with the mills running consistently at higher productivity rates and entering a seasonally stronger business and starting to pull some more integration through, you know, we're forecasting sequentially improvement of, you know, conservatively about 10 cents 1Q to 2Q. So we expect to be accretive in the second quarter and going forward. most of that improvement is from mix improvement and productivity improvement, and then, you know, a little bit of price increase layered on top of that. We expect then to continue to improve, you know, 3Q just as the business and the seasonality even improves more. Tom?