Packaging Corporation of America

What they do

PCA operates ten mills and 91 corrugated products manufacturing plants, primarily in the United States. Its containerboard mills make linerboard and corrugating medium, which its corrugated plants convert into shipping containers, multi-color boxes and displays, and honeycomb protective packaging. The company also manufactures and sells uncoated freesheet papers, including commodity and specialty grades for office, printing, and converting uses.

Revenue drivers

• Packaging segment — Provides the large majority of revenue: net sales of $8,293.9 million in 2025 versus $7,690.9 million in 2024, driven by containerboard and corrugated products prices, mix, and volumes.
• Paper segment — Net sales of $615.4 million in 2025 versus $624.7 million in 2024, comprising uncoated freesheet commodity and specialty papers such as office, printing, and converting papers.
• Acquired Greif containerboard business — Acquired September 2, 2025 for $1.8 billion in cash; adds two containerboard mills with about 800,000 tons of capacity and eight sheet feeder and corrugated plants, reported within the Packaging segment.

Recent performance

Second quarter 2026 net income was $192 million, or $2.15 per diluted share, and $210 million, or $2.35 per share, excluding special items. Net sales were $2.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026 versus $2.2 billion in 2025. Diluted EPS excluding special items declined $0.13 year over year, as $0.27 lower legacy business earnings were partly offset by $0.14 from the acquired Greif operations. Packaging segment operating income excluding special items was $327.8 million, up from $321.7 million, while reported Packaging operating income fell to $313.2 million from $346.3 million. Full-year 2025 net income was $774 million, or $8.58 per diluted share, on net sales of $9.0 billion.

Strategy

PCA completed the $1.8 billion acquisition of Greif's containerboard business on September 2, 2025, adding two mills and eight converting plants, and is integrating those operations into the Packaging segment. The company is reconfiguring its Wallula, WA containerboard mill and expects its cost structure to begin benefiting from that reconfiguration late in the first quarter of 2026. It notified customers of a $70 per ton price increase for linerboard and medium effective March 1, 2026, following a $40 per ton index increase in February 2025. The company returned cash to shareholders through $5.00 per share of dividends in 2025 and repurchased 0.3 million shares for $59 million in the first half of 2026.

Risks

• Industry shipment and production declines — Trade publications reported North American corrugated products shipments down 1.8% and containerboard production down 4.5% in 2025 versus 2024, with export containerboard shipments down 11.4%.
• Communication paper substitution — North American uncoated freesheet paper shipments decreased 9.6% in 2025 versus 2024 as usage shifts to electronic data transmission and document storage alternatives.
• Cost inflation — Management expects price inflation across most direct, indirect, and fixed operating and converting costs, with wood, energy, and chemical costs rising due to winter conditions.
• Integration and restructuring of acquired and reconfigured assets — Second quarter 2026 special items included facility closure costs and write-offs and costs related to the Wallula, WA mill restructuring and Greif acquisition and integration.

Outlook

For the first quarter of 2026, management expected higher per-day volume in legacy corrugated products plants, less containerboard production with two fewer operating days, a scheduled maintenance outage at the Counce, TN mill, and lower production at the reconfigured Wallula, WA mill. Domestic containerboard and corrugated products prices were expected to be higher with improved mix, with a slight benefit from the March containerboard price increases. Paper segment volume, prices, and mix were forecast slightly lower, and first quarter earnings were expected to be lower than the fourth quarter of 2025.