AMCR

Amcor plc has already reported fourth-quarter and full-year results for the period ended June 30, 2026, with sales of US$6,398 million and net income of US$389 million in Q4, and declared a higher quarterly cash dividend of US$0.65 per share following its January 2026 1-for-5 reverse stock split. The company’s decision to lift its quarterly dividend while converting it to A$0.92 per CDI for ASX investors underlines management’s confidence in cash generation and appeals to income-focused shareholders across both US and Australian markets. We’ll now examine how Amcor’s stronger earnings and raised dividend guidance influence the earlier investment narrative built around synergy capture and deleveraging. Uncover the next big thing with 19 elite penny stocks that balance risk and reward. To own Amcor, you need to believe the Berry integration and portfolio reshaping can offset sluggish volumes and a leveraged balance sheet. The latest Q4 beat and higher dividend support the near term earnings and deleveraging catalyst, while the main risk remains execution on synergies and asset sales in an environment of only modest expected revenue growth. This dividend increase is supportive, but does not remove those underlying execution and balance sheet risks. The most relevant new data point is Amcor’s Q4 and full year result, with US$6,398 million in quarterly sales and US$389 million in net income, which gives more substance to management’s synergy and cash generation story. Against that backdrop, the lifted US$0.65 per share dividend (A$0.92 per CDI) reinforces income appeal, but also puts a brighter spotlight on whether earnings and free cash flow can comfortably fund both deleveraging and shareholder returns. Yet behind the stronger earnings and higher dividend, investors should also be aware of the risk that... Read the full narrative on Amcor (it's free!) Amcor's narrative projects $23.9 billion revenue and $1.6 billion earnings by 2029. Uncover how Amcor's forecasts yield a $48.21 fair value, a 4% upside to its current price. Some of the lowest ranked analysts were already assuming only about 2.3 percent annual revenue growth and earnings of roughly US$1.5 billion by 2029, so if you are weighing today’s stronger results and higher dividend against their more cautious view on synergy execution and volume trends, it is worth exploring how far your own expectations differ. Explore 6 other fair value estimates on Amcor - why the stock might be worth as much as 89% more than the current price! Disagree with existing narratives? Extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd, so go with your instincts. A great starting point for your Amcor research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 4 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision. Our free Amcor research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual - the Snowflake - making it easy to evaluate Amcor's overall financial health at a glance. The market won't wait. These fast-moving stocks are hot now. Grab the list before they run: The best AI stocks today may lie beyond giants like Nvidia and Microsoft. Find the next big opportunity with these 16 smaller AI-focused companies with strong growth potential through early-stage innovation in machine learning, automation, and data intelligence that could fund your retirement. This technology could replace computers: discover 25 stocks that are working to make quantum computing a reality. We've uncovered the 9 dividend fortresses yielding 5%+ that don't just survive market storms, but thrive in them. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include AMCR. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026 at 8:00 a.m. ET Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury - Kate Pearlman Chief Executive Officer - Peter Konieczny Chief Financial Officer - Stephen Scherger Operator: Thank you for joining us, and welcome to Amcor's Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to Kate Pearlman, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Kate, please go ahead. Kate Pearlman: Thank you for joining Amcor's Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. Here with me today are Peter Konieczny, Chief Executive Officer; and Steve Scherger, Chief Financial Officer. In the Investors section of our website, amcor.com, you'll find today's press release and presentation, which we will discuss on today's call. Please be aware that we will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, and related reconciliations can be found in the press release and the presentation. Remarks will also include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions. The second slide in today's presentation lists several factors that could cause future results to be different than current estimates. And reference can be made to Amcor's SEC filings, including our statements on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for further details. Please note that during the question-and-answer session, we request that you limit yourself to a single question and then rejoin the queue if you have any additional questions or follow-up. With that, I'll turn the call over to PK. Peter Konieczny: Thank you, Kate, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. As always, we will start with our industry-leading safety performance on Slide 3, which remains our highest priority. The total recordable incident rate improved this quarter to 0.47, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of improvement as we leverage our world-class safety program across the combined organization. We're encouraged by the early results from our harmonized safety efforts and remain focused on driving continuous improvement. Before turning to our quarterly results, I want to take a moment to discuss the transition in our Investor Relations team. After more than 15 years leading Amcor's Investor Relations efforts, including through 2 strategic acquisitions, Tracey Whitehead has chosen to remain in Australia and pursue opportunities there. I have valued her steady leadership and the lasting impact she made on the company. Tracey will remain with Amcor in an advisory capacity through December to ensure a smooth transition. I also want to extend a warm welcome to Kate Pearlman. Kate has developed a strong reputation leading both Investor Relations and treasury teams in consumer-facing industries. We look forward to leveraging her expertise and perspectives. Turning to Slide 4. We were pleased to deliver strong operating performance in the fourth quarter despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.23 per share increased 23% year-over-year, resulting in full year fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of $4.02 per share, up 13% compared to the prior year. First, these results reflect the resilience of our business model and the benefits of our diversified global portfolio, strengthened by the transformative acquisition of Berry last year. We were pleased to see an inflection to modestly positive volume growth in the quarter. Sequentially, volume increased approximately 200 basis points with growth across several market categories. Importantly, we continue to deliver for our customers through a period of unprecedented input cost inflation. Highly coordinated efforts by our teams across the globe enabled us to secure the necessary supply while also executing on productivity initiatives and taking responsible pricing actions to fully mitigate these inflationary pressures. Second, synergy capture exceeded our expectations during the quarter as we realized $115 million of synergy, bringing total fiscal 2026 synergies to $285 million. This is approximately 10% ahead of our initial year 1 expectations. The successful integration of the legacy businesses, combined with our proven track record of execution, continues to create meaningful value. We have built a strong pipeline of opportunities across procurement, SG&A, operations and commercial growth and remain confident in achieving the $650 million 3-year synergy target. Third, we continue to make progress on optimizing our portfolio with a total of 5 divestitures closed in the second half of fiscal 2026. By sharpening our focus on higher return, higher growth opportunities across our core business, we expect to drive more sustainable growth in attractive categories and markets. At the same time, our noncore businesses delivered improved year-over-year performance, driven by strong execution against broad-based operational initiatives. And finally, turning to our outlook. As part of our previously announced fiscal year-end transition, we are providing expectations for the 6 months ending December 31, 2026. We expect adjusted EPS to be in the range of $1.80 to $1.90 per share, which reflects continued improvement in our operating performance, partially offset by higher interest and tax expense. Later in the call, Steve will walk through the building blocks for our EPS outlook. Turning now to Slide 5. We also wanted to provide investors with a view of where we see the business heading in 2027 as the benefits of our transformation become more fully realized. We expect that our portfolio actions will drive increased penetration in our higher growth, higher-margin focus categories. By year-end 2027, we expect to complete the actions required to deliver the synergies and to achieve the majority of the $650 million target. We also anticipate organic volume growth as we leverage the Berry acquisition, which created a stronger, more diversified portfolio with expanded product offerings, broader geographic reach and enhanced capabilities in innovation and sustainability. Against this backdrop, we have line of sight to delivering double-digit adjusted EPS growth in calendar year 2027. We're expecting leverage to be approximately 3x by year-end while modestly growing the dividend. We're entering this next chapter from a position of strength. The underlying business is performing well. Integration is on track, and we see a compelling path to accelerating earnings growth and cash flow generation over the next several years. Moving to Slide 6 and our financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year. The business generated quarterly revenue of $6.4 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $1.045 billion and adjusted EBIT of $836 million. Each of these metrics increased versus the prior year period, driven by synergy realization, disciplined cost management and 1 additional month of acquired Berry earnings, which supported further margin expansion during the quarter. Adjusted EPS increased 23% to $1.23 per share for the quarter at the high end of our outlook range. This includes benefits from organic volume growth, strong synergy capture and responsible price and cost management during a period of rapid inflation. For the fiscal year, free cash flow was $1.3 billion, which was impacted by the Middle East conflict. Steve will discuss these dynamics in further detail later on the call. Today, the Board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, which represents a modest increase over the prior year and reflects our long-standing commitment to annual dividend growth. Turning to Slide 7. As I mentioned earlier, synergies are tracking ahead of expectations, primarily driven by accelerated execution of our G&A and procurement initiatives. We have also made progress on operational and network synergies, which we expect to benefit earnings growth and productivity over the next 2 years. Finally, we achieved half of our 3-year growth synergy target this year with new business awards representing nearly $140 million compared to our initial $280 million 3-year goal. As we expected, we're winning new business by bringing together highly complementary product portfolios with participation in attractive categories. This allows us to unlock new opportunities that neither legacy company could have accessed on its own. Let me give you just one example. In Mexico, we recently extended our relationship with a legacy Amcor customer that specializes in beauty and wellness, so that we are now leveraging expertise in closures from the legacy Berry team to produce caps for their products as well. In fact, just 1 year into the integration, our pipeline of growth synergies continues to build, which reinforces our long-term expectation that there is greater potential for revenue synergies beyond the initial $280 million 3-year target. Keep in mind that fiscal year earnings benefited by a few million dollars as a result of these wins, which are expected to ramp up further in the coming months. Taking all these synergies together, we achieved $115 million in the fourth quarter, resulting in full year synergies of $285 million, which were 10% ahead of our initial target. Looking ahead, the organization remains focused on driving out the cost synergies while taking advantage of our enhanced capabilities to deliver growth with our commitment to deliver the total target of $650 million over 3 years intact. With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve. Stephen Scherger: Thank you, PK. Moving to Slide 8 and beginning with our core portfolio. Net sales of approximately $5.7 billion in the quarter inflected to modestly positive volume growth and was in line with the overall company. For the full year, the core portfolio generated $21 billion in sales with EBIT margins of approximately 12.7% and EBIT dollar growth of 8%, ahead of the total company. As we've discussed previously, the core portfolio includes 6 strategic focus categories. Within Nutrition, we have proteins, liquids, foodservice and pet care as well as health care and beauty and wellness, which represent more than 50% of core portfolio sales. These are attractive end markets where we expect that our innovation, customer partnerships and differentiated capabilities will drive sustainable growth and support greater resilience across economic cycles. During the quarter, we saw strong volume growth in the foodservice, pet care and protein categories, while liquids and beauty and wellness volumes were flat. In health care, while overall volumes were down due to softness in lower-margin health care categories, underlying growth trends across our health care platform remain encouraging and reinforce our confidence in the long-term opportunity in this focus category. In aggregate, volume performance across the focus categories was in line with the core portfolio, with trends improving as the year progressed. As PK mentioned earlier, we are pleased with the improved performance of our noncore businesses with performance up significantly in the fourth quarter. Turning to Slide 9 and the Global Flexible Packaging Solutions segment, where sales increased 16% on a constant currency basis, driven primarily by the Berry acquisition, along with the pass-through of higher raw material costs. On a comparable basis, volumes were up approximately 1% year-over-year. Notably, this represents a sequential improvement of nearly 200 basis points compared with Q3. Across North America and Europe, volumes were up modestly compared with the prior year. Volumes across emerging markets were up low single digits, mainly driven by continued growth in Asia. Adjusted EBIT was up 20% on a constant currency basis to $533 million, primarily driven by acquired earnings, net of divestitures and synergy benefits. On a comparable basis, adjusted EBIT was up approximately 18% and adjusted EBIT margin of 15.1% reflects synergy benefits in line with our expectations. Excluding synergies, comparable earnings were up mid-single digits compared to the prior year. Turning to Slide 10 and the Global Rigid Packaging Solutions segment, where sales increased 35% on a constant currency basis, primarily due to the Berry acquisition, along with the pass-through of higher raw material costs. On a comparable basis, volumes were up approximately 0.5% in both the core and noncore businesses. This was sequentially stronger by approximately 200 basis points, driven in part by improvement in both consumer demand and stronger performance in our noncore businesses. By region, volume growth was driven by developed markets with sequential improvement in both Europe and North America. Adjusted EBIT was $352 million, up 57% over last year on a constant currency basis, primarily driven by acquired earnings, net of divestitures and synergy benefits. On a comparable basis and excluding noncore businesses, adjusted EBIT was up approximately 24% compared to the prior year, primarily due to synergy benefits as well as volume improvement. Adjusted EBIT margin was 12.3%, 180 basis points higher than the prior year. Excluding the noncore businesses, adjusted EBIT margin was 13.3%. Moving to free cash flow and the balance sheet on Slide 11. After funding $290 million of Berry transaction restructuring and integration-related cash costs, free cash flow for the year was $1.3 billion, which was $200 million below our outlook range. This was primarily driven by working capital impacts across inventories and receivables due to the Middle East conflict that were higher than expected as well as accelerated integration spending to expedite synergy capture. Importantly, we target recovering more than $500 million in cash over the next 12 months, primarily driven by the reversal of working capital impacts related to the Middle East conflict and other initiatives to structurally improve working capital. Despite lower-than-expected cash generation, leverage at quarter end was 3.5x, in line with our expectations, driven partly by proceeds from divestitures. As PK mentioned, we are expecting leverage to be approximately 3x by the end of calendar year 2027, driven by robust free cash flow generation, which underscores our commitment to an investment-grade credit rating. Moving to our transition period outlook on Slide 12. We expect to deliver adjusted EPS in the range of $1.80 to $1.90 per share during the transition period. Walking through the building blocks from the $1.83 adjusted EPS we reported in the prior year period, we expect a $0.04 per share unfavorable impact from the divestitures that we have completed to date, which results in baseline prior year adjusted EPS of $1.79. From there, we expect a $0.10 to $0.12 unfavorable impact from higher interest and taxes and a $0.13 to $0.21 positive impact to adjusted EPS from synergy capture and net operating performance, which represents roughly double-digit growth at the midpoint. We expect leverage to be in the range of 3.5 to 3.6x on December 31, 2026, in line with seasonally lower earnings and cash flow generation in the September and December quarters. As we reflect on the fourth quarter results, we are pleased with our improved operating performance, which demonstrates the strength of the combined organization as a leading global consumer packaging company. As we move into the transition period and look ahead to calendar year 2027, we are looking forward to consistently delivering for our customers, our employees and our shareholders. Thank you for your time today. Let me turn the call back over to PK. Peter Konieczny: When we outlined our expectations for fiscal 2026 more than a year ago, we targeted double-digit adjusted EPS growth, and we delivered on that commitment. We finished the year strong despite a demanding operating environment, driven by disciplined execution across the business. I'd like to thank our global team for their hard work, dedication and commitment to serving our customers. As we move into the transition period, our confidence in our momentum continues to build. With our integration efforts largely behind us, we're now seeing the benefits of this global Consumer Packaging combination translating into stronger performance. While we have accomplished a great deal over the past year, I believe we are still in the early stages of unlocking the full potential of Amcor. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of John Purtell with Macquarie. John Purtell: Look, just a question on working capital there, Steve. Thanks for the color. Just the $500 million of Middle East sort of working capital impacts, you expect to get that back, obviously, over the next 12 months, I think, is what you said. How much of that do you expect to get back in the next 6 months as distinct from 12? And just you mentioned structurally improving working capital collection. Any color there? Stephen Scherger: Yes, John, it's Steve, and thanks for joining us this evening as well for the call. You described it well. We cumulatively have about a $500 million impact from the Middle East conflict. The original estimate was around $300 million, moved to $500 million. By the way, that $200 million increase that we described is primarily accounts receivable driven. And so our customers, as they were taking on the incremental pricing associated with our products, they're paying on terms, but they were, in many ways, managing their own balance sheets, and we saw a little bit of an increase in our days sales, larger -- slightly larger than expected. As we mentioned, we expect to get the $500 million back over the next 12 months. The exact timing over the next 6 months, we certainly expect to make progress. So if you put that into the $100 million, $200 million, $300 million range, I think that's a fair assumption for this first 6 months, if you will. Some of that will, of course, depend upon how are the structural realities of continued supply availability and the like, which right now is in a very good place. And so we do expect to methodically get that $500 million back over the next 12 months and would get a portion of it back here during this transition period. And by the way -- sorry, John, I apologize to you, just so I hit your answer. Structurally, it's the kind of things you would expect from us. We've got very specific goals for days of inventory that we're carrying, for example, both at the raw material level and the finished goods level, specific targets for our days sales outstanding and then a continued positive march on increases in days payables. It will be across all 3 major components of our working capital. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ghansham Panjabi with Baird. Ghansham Panjabi: PK and Steve, just curious as to the price cost dynamic during the second quarter. Was there any benefit? I mean, obviously, it was a chaotic backdrop with raw materials and then your own pricing initiatives. So I'm just curious as to how that should cut specific to 2Q. And then if there was any benefit or negative, I guess, how should we think about price/cost evolving into the back half of the year? What do you have embedded in guidance? Stephen Scherger: Ghansham, it's Steve. I'll take that on. In our fourth quarter, the quarter that we just completed here with our fiscal year, we had about $280 million of price realization, which was the pass-through of the vast majority of our inflation. So as we anticipated, the price pass-through was in line with the overall inflation that we experienced, and we would expect that to continue to be the case as we manage through the transition period. And so overall, the stability of that price/cost relationship was very good in our fourth quarter, and we would expect to maintain that relative relationship here over the coming quarters through the transition period. Peter Konieczny: Yes, I may want to make an additional comment here, which is not so much a modeling question, but just taking a step back. We've been very pleased with the way how the organization has sailed through, particularly the fourth quarter in light of the inflation that came at us very quickly, obviously, on the back of the Middle East conflict. Think about it this way. I mean, we were still handling the integration. Most of that now is behind us, but halfway through fiscal '26, we were still in the middle of it, and the organization and the team were tested, and they performed excellently against that. And I've been very pleased with the performance of the organization to essentially recover what we were seeing on the input side. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Nathan Reilly with UBS. Nathan Reilly: The question is just in relation to the, I guess, the comment that you provided there in terms of the CY '27 double-digit EPS growth outlook. You've highlighted you're expecting a return to organic growth. Just kind of keen to get a bit of an understanding in terms of what you're assuming there in terms of broader market volume-led growth? And also just in the context of, I guess, the outcome of bringing the businesses together, I think at the time, you highlighted that the combination should be able to deliver kind of growth about 1% or so above market. So just trying to get an understanding of how those 2 points are playing into that view around your organic growth outlook returning in '27. Peter Konieczny: Nathan, it's a great question. Thank you. I'll take that. This is PK. Let me take a step back here. It may feel like a lengthy answer, but I won't forget the questions that you've actually asked. Let me tell you first, we're pretty excited about calendar '27. And the excitement comes from the fact that you got to look at this as this being the first pretty much "clean year" after the combination of Amcor and Berry. In fiscal '26, we had essentially 2 targets. It was integration and enabling growth. And we were very busy with the integration. I just made a comment, and I think we are in a good spot now that we exit fiscal '26. And you'll have that team in the organization that actually performed really well through the challenging operating environment. You have that same team sort of enter into calendar year '27. And in terms of the growth side, there were a number of things that we have done. And I want to remind everybody, we're very clear in terms of our portfolio and where we want to play. Think about the whole conversation around the core versus noncore. We'll expect to make more progress on the noncore side of the business. But then when you look at the core, we're also very clear in terms of how this company is positioned. We're playing in nutrition, we're playing in health, beauty and wellness, and we're playing in specialties. And when you double-click on that, you find 6 focus categories. Steve has just laid them out in our prepared comments. And they already make up more than 50% of the top line of the company. And as they will grow, obviously, that will further increase. So very clear on where we want to play, and that focus will yield success. The other thing is, and this maybe comes back a little more to your question, is how do we win in those categories. And on that end, there's 2 things. We have the combination of the 2 companies, Amcor and Berry, which will translate more into performance going forward. And you've heard us talk about a more global or broader -- first of all, broader product range. The companies are together more global than they were before each on their own. And we talked about capabilities like an innovation and sustainability that we can bring to the market. And those things are really driving the growth synergies where we are making really good progress. And I expect that really just to be the beginning. I think we're scratching the surface here. There's going to be a lot more opportunity. So we'll translate that. And then the other piece that gives us confidence for growth in calendar '27 is the fact that we have, as I said before, enabled growth between the 2 companies. So it would have been easy for us just really to focus on taking cost out in the combination and the integration. But we did something else. We focused the companies more on service, on quality, on customer delight. And we're bringing more tools to our frontline teams in order to drive better growth. And that combination, leveraging the benefits of Amcor and Berry combined, plus the growth enablers that I just spoke to, they give us good reason to believe that we will see outperformance versus market. I think at this point in time, you'll probably see us more move with the market and the market is more positive than what we've seen in the last couple of quarters. We're taking advantage of that. We're seeing green shoots. There's no question. When I just think about protein and pet care, we're doing really well. That's collectively somewhere between 15% and 20% of the company. But going forward, we'll see more outperformance. I hope that answers the questions. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ramoun Lazar with Jefferies. Ramoun Lazar: Maybe if I could just follow up on that volume -- on those volume comments. Just anything in that quarter that stood out in terms of potentially one-off benefits to your business or whether the volume performance was a more broad-based improvement over the quarter? And I guess just focusing a bit further on some of the end markets, what are you seeing? You mentioned green shoots. I guess if you could just elaborate a bit more on what you're seeing on the volume side, that would be great. Peter Konieczny: Sure, Ramoun. Happy to do that. Look, you started off the question with Q4, are there any one-offs or developments of one-off character driving the volume performance? It's a fair question. We actually spent some time on trying to figure out if that's the case. We believe that there would have potentially been 2 factors that could be a bit more of a one-off character. One is just simply in an accelerating inflationary environment, the request of our customers to buy ahead, that could have been one. And the other one could have been pretty much around the World Cup. Those were the 2 things that I would carve out that could have some one-off character. So we did some digging around that. And I can tell you that we wouldn't have had like a couple of customers that did buy ahead or in terms of the World Cup, we did see some strengthening of our beverage business also in the foodservice category. But when we add it all up, we don't think that this adds up to anything that would be material to the volume performance in the fourth quarter. So that's your first question. In fact, when I talk to the volume performance, it's been pretty broad, and across the business, broad across core versus noncore. It's been broad between the 2 segments. It's also been broad when you look at the focus categories or also the regional performance, actually. So it's been a pretty strong broad-based volume performance in the quarter, which we like. In terms of some highlights, I don't want to make this too long-winded here, but emerging markets, we've seen really good growth throughout the whole year continuing into the fourth quarter. Developed markets improved sequentially. We're talking about North America, which is back to growth. Remember, in the third quarter, we had the winter storms. Europe improved sequentially. And focus categories, as I said before, were pretty much in line with the overall business. And then we -- I talked about some green shoots. Foodservice, very strong performance. Pet care continues to perform really well on the back of our material science and the solutions that we can bring to market. Protein continues to excel. Remember, on the back of the Moda acquisition, we got ourselves into the equipment business. We're now having a significant share of new equipment installations in the market, which will -- going forward and which are starting to pull consumables. So those are the type of green shoots that we're seeing. Stephen Scherger: Ramoun, it's Steve. Just to add to PK's comments, one of the -- we do have, of course, a view into July. And on a positive front, July continued consistent with Q4. And so in terms of kind of net pull forward and the like, we just didn't observe anything and July is a good indicator that some of the positive momentum that we've seen from a volume perspective has continued here into the first quarter with our July results now in hand. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of George Staphos with Bank of America Securities. George Staphos: My question is going to be around some margin factors relatedly. So in reading the press release and reading the material guys, price/mix was related as negative, even though you're obviously passing through inflation. And I was wondering what was driving that price/mix negative, if I read it correctly, in the quarter? And what are the implications into the transition period? And kind of a related bonus piece, I think you gave us the EBIT performance in Flexibles ex synergy. Did you give us that for rigid? And if not, could you provide that? Stephen Scherger: Yes. Thanks, George. Let me touch on those. I think in terms of looking at the top line, you touched on it. What we've seen on price/mix, which excludes all of the raw material pass-through, that minus 1% has kind of been consistent with what we've observed over the last year. There's always bits of movement kind of in the competitive dynamic, the reearning of business, et cetera. So that minus 1% is very consistent, and doesn't really have that negative impact on our economics. Repeating what I mentioned earlier, $280 million of top line was pass-through consistent with our inflation, no impact on our economics in total. It does, to your point, at $280 million in the quarter, that's roughly 4%, 5% top line growth. It has some minor implications on margins, but overall margin performance was quite good. And I think in terms of your EBIT question, we really -- if you look at on a -- I think the key thing, George, on a comparable basis, when you -- which is the lower left portion of our segment slides, that's really where you can see that we earned on the improvements sequentially on the volume growth, that 200 basis points of volume improvement quarter-to-quarter was successfully earned on, and you can see that in the margin growth. And so I think as you're looking at the segment reporting, that lower left corner is kind of the best place to focus because it's comparable on a like-for-like basis and gives you a sense for the margins. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mark Wilson with RBC. Mark Wilson: Steve, it's probably a question for you just in relation to the asset sales, and thanks for outlining the impact going forward. Just wondering if there was a gain on the sale of the assets in the period? And if so, where was that booked? Stephen Scherger: There was a modest gain on one of the sales of the assets. It is not included in our adjusted EPS figures. So it's below the line. It's down in our -- the figures that we have for the adjustments around transaction-related costs, et cetera. So it's not -- there are no gains or losses inside of the $4.02 EPS that we shared with you, if that's the question, just to make sure I'm answering it for you. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Gabe Hajde with Wells Fargo. Gabe Hajde: I want to ask 2 quick ones. If we're doing our math correct, in the first half, implied EBITDA is somewhere around $1.8 billion. And I appreciate that you're not giving us kind of calendar '27 guide other than talking about it, I guess, on track with double-digit EPS growth and synergy realization. But if I tack on the remaining kind of synergies and then make our own assumptions about growth, it's something in that $3.8 billion to $4 billion range. Anything in that -- those bridge items that you would kind of steer me towards? And then the second one, it looks like CapEx is starting to accelerate here in the first half. I don't know if that's -- I shouldn't say first half, but sorry, transition period. I don't know if that's timing related or if we should read anything into that? Stephen Scherger: No. Thanks, Gabe. I'll start and PK can add any color relative to the strategic implications. But fundamentally, you're correct in how you're observing what is implied both in terms of the transition period and into 2027, which is fundamentally mid-single-digit EBITDA growth. That's really kind of at the core of the assumptions that we will continue to have our synergy benefits as well as some modest volume growth. And there's always moving parts, by the way, of other things that are moving in and out. But from an EBITDA perspective, 6 months, next 12 months, so over the 18, kind of that mid-single-digit EBITDA growth is implied, and it is then inside of the range that you just provided. And so I think you're overall in line there. What you've seen on CapEx is roughly 5% of sales. We've used that quite a bit to talk about what we think is steady and consistent CapEx to support our growth initiatives. And so you're seeing us invest at that level, not materially above historic levels, but we believe that, that 5% is a good harbinger for our ability to grow organically and invest back in the business. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Keith Chau with MST Marquee. Keith Chau: Steve, I just want to ask you a question on free cash flow for the next 12 months. I mean, I appreciate the comments you made there about getting the $500 million of working capital impulse back. But I just want to confirm something with you. So last year, I think free cash flow started -- or the target started at $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion. On top of that, this -- for the next 12 months, you should be getting the $500 million back in that working capital impulse from the Middle East conflict. Hopefully, everything kind of settles from that. And then plus you get incremental synergies as well. So we should be staring down the barrel of $2.5 billion or so of free cash flow for the next 12 months of the stub period plus the first half of your next calendar year or new fiscal year. Would you agree that $2.5 billion is a reasonable number to target for the next 12 months? Stephen Scherger: Yes. Thanks for that, Keith. I think maybe playing that back to you in similar words. If you look at kind of the next 12 to 18 months, which is the pathway to 3x levered, it's really 3 things, and you had them embedded in your question. One is, to Gabe's question, continuation of mid-single-digit EBITDA growth. So the EBITDA continuing to grow. That's part of the pathway. And then as you just said, roughly $2.5 billion of free cash flow would be a combination of the natural cash flow capabilities of the business, EBITDA minus CapEx, minus the interest and taxes, plus the $500 million of return from the Middle East. And so you're in line with the kind of assumptions or the pathway, if you will, towards the end of 2027, 3x levered because all of that kind of correlates together, I think, if that's inherent in your question. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Matt Roberts with Raymond James. Matthew Roberts: 4Q's EPS was up 23%. I think you had Berry 2 months of that in the prior year. So now that Berry is fully in, the September quarter is still down at the midpoint. Steve, you [Technical Difficulty] I believe, drags from interest and taxes. But should EBIT be up they're hitting earlier and July volumes appear to be similar and then slightly up to June Q? Or any other puts and takes there on the EBIT line looking at the September quarter and second half? Stephen Scherger: Yes, Matt, let me touch on that. You're really referencing Page 12 on the outlook, and you summarized it well. That $0.13 to $0.21 bridge there that you see, think of that at the midpoint, there's roughly $80 million of after-tax earnings or roughly $100 million of EBIT. And so we do expect to see some EBIT improvement year-over-year. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of that is, of course, the capture of the $110 million of EBIT synergies that's implied in our outlook. We'll get a little bit of favorability year-over-year, some reduced depreciation that impacts EBIT. That's as we've dialed in the depreciation for the Berry assets that we've acquired. And there's always, of course, some other puts and takes. But EBIT and EBITDA improvement is, of course, critical as we continue to drive the business forward. It's offset, as you referenced by some of the increased tax an assumption of 16% in the first half, returning towards a more normalized but low 19% and then the realities of some of the refinancings that were completed in the prior year, which is a modest increase in our interest expense. But that bridging on EBIT is kind of, I think, critical to your question. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Brook Campbell-Crawford with Barrenjoey. Brook Campbell-Crawford: Just one on incentive compensation. I think there might have been some sort of benefit in the June quarter, perhaps given sort of accruals and things for incentive comp and perhaps that might unwind in the first half. Do you mind maybe just stepping through that dynamic in case that is something we need to be across this? Stephen Scherger: Yes. Thanks, Brook Campbell. It's Steve again. As we mentioned in the footnote, we have some modest year-over-year increases in incentive compensation. That is kind of a traditional pathway of an assumption that we'll be accruing at target compensation. Last year, we were accruing at modestly below target compensation at roughly 50%, primarily driven by the compensation that we have that's associated with our growth and cash flow expectations, which, as you're aware, in the prior year, we were not at the levels that we had originally anticipated. So that's a little bit of the waterfall bridge, if you will, as to the compensation component during this transition period. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jakob Cakarnis with Jarden Australia. Jakob Cakarnis: I just wanted to go back to Slide 19, if I could, please, PK. It sounds like calendar '27 is shaping up where things could start to look a lot better. I'm just wondering how far of a management team you think you are from the current model that you displayed there where you've got $3 billion of annual cash flow, that reinvestment target back in the business of $1 billion plus and the balance sheet utilization of $1 billion plus, please? Peter Konieczny: Jakob, you weren't really coming through that clearly here. Let me just check in with the team if they understood what the question was. Stephen Scherger: So Jakob, I think you're asking about the kind of the value creation model that was a part of the original that was developed with the acquisition. I think are you asking, is it still in line with those expectations? Was that the nature of the question? Jakob Cakarnis: That's right, please, Steve. Yes, just to pitch it again. Hopefully, it's clearer. In that value creation model, you're talking about annual cash flow of over $3 billion, reinvestment back into the business of over $1 billion and then also the balance sheet utilization of over $1 billion. The question was pitched at PK. Just with calendar '27 shaping up as a better, stronger year for the business, more representative of the go forward, how far do you think we are away from that value proposition model, please? Peter Konieczny: Yes. Look, I think we're in a -- so much better now in terms of the line, Jakob. Thank you. I think we're well on our way to getting there. What we're seeing here on Slide 19, broken out to the right, is sort of the swung-in model after we have taken advantage of all the opportunities and the potential from the combination of the 2 companies. I think it still holds. And I think we're making good headways. Let's not forget that '27 is going to be the year, for example, on synergies where we are going to pretty much see the bulk of it. And in terms of our activities that we will implement, we will pretty much be done by the end of '27. So that will impact our earnings capacity and also the cash flow generation. But generally speaking, we are well on the way. And in terms of the capital allocation model, we will support the business, and this is the way how we think about it. We are committed to the dividend. And of course, this will all go along with a commitment to investment-grade balance sheet, which is all in line with what Steve has laid out here in terms of the use of cash in order to reduce our leverage. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mike Roxland with Truist Securities. Michael Roxland: Steve, I just wanted to follow up quickly with you. You mentioned that in terms of the 1H or the transition period outlook, some modest volume growth. Any way to quantify that? 25 bps, 50 bps? What type of volume growth are you embedding within that -- the transition period outlook? And then secondly, PK, you mentioned softness in health care. It seems like every quarter, there seems to be some issues around health care and volume growth accelerating in that key category for you. So what's driving the continued softness in health care? And what gives you confidence that volumes will ultimately inflect? Stephen Scherger: Mike, it's Steve. I'll attack the first and PK, the second part of your question. The assumption embedded in the $1.80 to $1.90 for the first -- for the transition period, volume assumption is flat to very modestly up. So think about that. It's a pretty narrow range, as you can appreciate. Peter Konieczny: And then on health care, Mike, thanks for the question because it's a bit of an obvious one when you listen to our commentary. We're laser-focused on volumes and driving volumes forward because we believe that is the ultimate metric to follow when you want to decide if you're successfully competing in the marketplace. But volumes is not always the best metric to decide on the progress that we're making in our focus categories. And in health care, that would be an example. So I would start my reflection here by saying don't read too much into the volume performance on the health care side. What we're really seeing is a mix shift, and we're not unhappy with the mix shift. We have seen some volumes reducing in a lower-margin subcategory in medical, and that is offset by really good progress on the pharma side, where we have higher-margin products, think about nasal, ophthalmic or inhalation devices that we bring to market. And the combination of the 2 actually leads to a profit expansion in the health care business. So we're happy with the overall performance. But as we are very focused on volumes, we break out the volume performance of health care and that mix shift is driving the volumes down right now. Now we will -- as I reflect on my answer here, we're excited about the business and also the outlook, and you talked a little bit about that or you were inquiring around that. A couple of things just to remind you of here. We talked about our participation in GLP-1 with the win. It actually was a synergy win for a customer bringing oral solid dose to the market, multiple regions, multiple format win, and we're up and producing. We've made some really good progress with generics in the fourth quarter also in India. And we've also talked about the ramp-up of our air knife coating technology in Asia, which is the first of its kind, which will also support the medical business in good margin categories. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Anthony Pettinari with Citi. Anthony Pettinari: PK, Steve, on the second half outlook for the stub period, could you talk about your assumptions around cost and just trajectory of resin, fuel, freight, any cost items that you'd call out? And then can you just talk generally about the level of conservatism in the second half guide and what could get you to sort of the higher or lower end given you've had a lot of success with these synergies? Stephen Scherger: Anthony, it's Steve. In terms of our kind of guiding principles here, we obviously don't outlook specifically resin, logistics, et cetera. But our assumption remains that our pricing will offset that inflation. So that relationship of our pricing offsetting that kind of is the fundamental assumption. I think the banding on our transition period outcome, as PK just mentioned, is probably just bands around volume. Are we flat? Are we modestly up? Because what we are showing is good earning power on modest movements in volume. And I think that will be the primary movement, which is a pretty tight band around our EPS guide for the 6-month transition period. Peter Konieczny: And then, just -- Steve and I were looking at each other and wondering who should answer the question. I really don't have much to add to what Steve said. We can complete each other's sentences. But I think what's important to understand in this context here is we don't really know how the Middle East conflict plays out. What's more important for us is really how the supply chains normalize. That will have an impact on resin costing for us as an input. And what Steve said is 100% correct. We feel like we can do the right thing here for the business and for our customers, which means should the inflation go up or go even further up or go up again, we have an opportunity to deal with that. If it comes down, we'll do the right thing for our customers, and we'll adjust our pricing. So that is sort of the base assumption as we look forward. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ketan Mamtora with BMO Capital Markets. Ketan Mamtora: Maybe just one more on the 6-month transition EPS bridge. The $100 million EBIT that you talked about, Steve, any way to sort of just understand the puts and takes there? Because I would imagine the synergies alone would get you above that level. What are the other factors that we should keep in mind as we think about just that component of the bridge? Stephen Scherger: Ketan, it's Steve. Yes, you touched on it well. The primary positive there is net synergies. And as we mentioned, we've got a couple of moving parts. There'll be some modest decrease in our depreciation expense and then a modest increase on the incentive compensation expense that we just chatted about in the earlier question. Those are the 2 kind of moving parts, if you will, that has some impact on the EBITDA, just given that the depreciation is down, I think a bit -- and you'll see it in the guide, you can kind of get to a $30 million reduction in depreciation expense during the 6-month period, if you kind of look at actuals versus the guide that's in the supplemental section of the materials. Those are 2 moving parts beyond the synergies. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Hillary Cacanando with Deutsche Bank. Hillary Cacanando: So you've now secured about $140 million of annualized revenue wins or roughly half of your 3-year growth synergy target. Can you provide a little more detail on where those wins are coming from, whether they are primarily cross-selling with an existing customer or new customer wins? And how should we think about the timing of those awards converting into revenue and earnings over the next 12 to 24 months? Peter Konieczny: Yes. Thanks, Hillary. This is PK. It's pretty much all of the above that you mentioned. We talked about the synergy wins before, and they go back to the potential really that the combination has brought along. So think about it this way. One lever is a combination of products between Amcor and Berry that creates an additional value opportunity for our customers. One of the things that we've said, one of the 2 companies makes the bottle, the other one makes the closure or the pump that goes on top of it, and that creates a solution. That's one opportunity. Second one is you leverage the more global reach of Amcor for the Berry products. These things are happening. The third one is, and this was one of the examples I spoke to, cross-referencing of customers from one side to the other. These are the type of things that create the synergies, and there is lots of opportunities there. I think we're really just scratching the surface. And we have trouble to really estimate that. And against our estimates, we're making really good progress. Now the second part of your question was how quickly does that translate? At this point, we would earmark about $140 million of annualized wins. They will play out, obviously, over a period of sort of 12 months once you get them, right? You need to ramp up first, say, it takes you about 12 to 15 months to see a full cycle of full revenues, and that will then translate to the bottom line. So that's why we're saying at this point in time, we've really just had the smaller part of contribution falling to the bottom line from those wins. But as we move forward through the transition period and into calendar '27, that will become a lot more. Operator: Your last question comes from the line of Jeff Zekauskas with JPMorgan. Jeffrey Zekauskas: And restructuring costs were $290 million this year. I expect that they would go down next year. How much would they go down? And is that benefit included in your $500 million working capital benefit? And does that $500 million working capital benefit assume flat raw material costs? And is your challenge in the coming quarter, how you modulate your declining raw material costs because polyethylene came down $0.15 a pound in June and propylene came down, and you did a great job during this period of inflation, might you be able to hold on to some of the raw material benefit? Or does it go back perfectly? Stephen Scherger: Yes. Thanks for that, Jeff. It's Steve. Just very briefly, you touched on it well. $290 million of total Berry transaction restructuring costs, $160 million of that was more integration-oriented, $130 million was transaction-oriented. You're correct that during the transition period, that number will come down quite materially. The transaction is behind us. We would expect more in the $50 million range for the integration-related costs. So it's a good tailwind. It is not in the working capital improvement assumption. It is more in the cash flow assumption relative to the 3.5x to 3.6x leverage targeted for end of December '26. And you're into the good complexities of the business, PP, PE movements up and down. Overall, our assumptions have reasonable stability in those cost assumptions in terms of the ability to get the $500 million back. In other words, not major movements up or down, which could have some implications, obviously, on timing. It's a good, thoughtful question. And you're right, there could be some implications. Overall, our confidence in the recovery of the Middle East conflict cash flow is high, as you've heard us articulate. So thank you. Operator: We have reached the end of the time we have for the Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to PK for closing remarks. Peter Konieczny: Yes. Thank you, operator, and thank you, everybody, again, for joining us. We certainly look forward to the opportunity to sit down with many of you over the course of the quarter and clarify further our expectations and the quality of the business. Thank you. Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. Before you buy stock in Amcor Plc, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Amcor Plc wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $403,337!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,334,946!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 12, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amcor Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Amcor (AMCR) Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Achieved an inflection to positive volume growth in Q4, with a 200 basis point sequential improvement driven by resilience in core market categories. Realized $285 million in total fiscal 2026 synergies, exceeding initial year-one expectations by 10% through accelerated procurement and G&A initiatives. Successfully mitigated unprecedented input cost inflation via highly coordinated pricing actions and productivity improvements, particularly following Middle East supply chain disruptions. Sharpened portfolio focus by closing five divestitures in the second half of the year to prioritize higher-margin, higher-growth core categories. Leveraged the Berry acquisition to unlock cross-selling opportunities, achieving half of the three-year revenue synergy target within the first year. Reported strong performance in noncore businesses due to broad-based operational initiatives and improved execution against a challenging macro backdrop. Projecting adjusted EPS of $1.80 to $1.90 for the six-month transition period ending December 31, 2026, assuming flat to modestly positive volumes. Targeting double-digit adjusted EPS growth in calendar year 2027 as the business transitions to a 'clean year' post-integration. Expect to recover approximately $500 million in cash over the next 12 months, primarily through the reversal of working capital impacts related to the Middle East conflict. Anticipate reaching a leverage target of approximately 3x by the end of calendar year 2027, supported by robust free cash flow and synergy realization. Maintaining a commitment to the $650 million three-year synergy target, with the majority of actions expected to be completed by year-end 2027. Free cash flow of $1.3 billion fell $200 million below outlook due to higher-than-expected accounts receivable and inventory impacts from the Middle East conflict. Transitioning to a new fiscal year-end, resulting in a one-time six-month reporting period to align financial cycles. Divestitures completed to date are expected to create a $0.04 per share headwind to adjusted EPS in the upcoming transition period. Higher interest and tax expenses are projected to impact the transition period by $0.10 to $0.12 per share. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management expects to recover the $500 million over the next 12 months, with $100 million to $300 million anticipated in the first six months. The recovery is driven by specific targets for reducing days of inventory and improving days sales outstanding as supply chains normalize. July volumes remained consistent with Q4's positive momentum, suggesting the improvement was not driven by one-off pull-forward buying. Growth is being led by the protein, pet care, and foodservice categories, while healthcare is seeing a positive mix shift toward higher-margin pharma products. The $140 million in new business wins stems from combining legacy Amcor and Berry products, such as pairing bottles with specialized closures. Management noted that these wins typically take 12 to 15 months to fully ramp up and contribute to the bottom line. Amcor realized $280 million in price pass-throughs during Q4 to offset inflation, maintaining a stable relationship between costs and pricing. The company intends to remain flexible, adjusting pricing downward if raw material costs decline to maintain customer relationships.

The Department of Labor reported that the headline consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.1% in July, in contrast to a decline of 0.4% in June. However, the headline CPI print was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. On the other hand, the headline CPI rose 3.4%, annually in July, down from the 3.5% annual rise in June. Core CPI (excluding volatile items like food and energy) rose 0.2% in July after remaining unchanged in June. Like CPI, the core CPI print was in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Core CPI rose 2.5% annually in July, below the 2.6% annual rise in June. The benign CPI and core CPI data for July may enable the Fed to stay away from hiking the benchmark interest rate in its upcoming September FOMC meeting. Fed officials will consider both the July and August inflation readings before meeting in September. Before today’s inflation data, the CME FedWatch tool has assigned a 50% probability for a September rate hike. Amcor plc AMCR came up with adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.23 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.18 per share. This compares to earnings of $1 per share a year ago. The global packaging giant reported quarterly revenues of $6.4 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.06%. Trimble Inc. TRMB posted adjusted quarterly earnings of $0.86 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.80 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.71 per share a year ago. The leading AI-powered technology solutions provider registered quarterly revenues of $972 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.21%. Performance Food Group Co.PFGC reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.59 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.62 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.55 per share a year ago. The retail bigwig of natural foods posted quarterly revenues of $18.03 billion, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.02%. In pre-market trade today, the stock prices of AI cloud infrastructure giant CoreWeave Inc. CRWV and AI-driven data center storage major Super Micro Computer Inc. SMCI jumped following their solid earnings results and guidance announced yesterday after market close. The AI infrastructure space remains rock-solid buoyed by an unprecedented massive capex undertaken by major hyperscalers. AI-powered networking bigwig Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO will declare quarterly financial results today after the closing bell. 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 Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Trimble Inc. (TRMB) : Free Stock Analysis Report Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Performance Food Group Company (PFGC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Amcor PLC (AMCR) : Free Stock Analysis Report CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Adjusted EPS: Q4 adjusted EPS of $1.23 per share, up 23% year-over-year; full-year fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of $4.02 per share, up 13%. Revenue: Q4 revenue of $6.4 billion, increased versus prior year. Adjusted EBITDA: Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $1.045 billion, increased versus prior year. Adjusted EBIT: Q4 adjusted EBIT of $836 million, increased versus prior year. Free Cash Flow: Full-year free cash flow of $1.3 billion, impacted by Middle East conflict and accelerated integration spending. Synergies: Q4 synergies of $115 million; full-year fiscal 2026 synergies of $285 million, approximately 10% ahead of initial year 1 expectations. Core Portfolio Net Sales: Q4 net sales of approximately $5.7 billion; full-year core portfolio sales of $21 billion with EBIT margins of approximately 12.7% and EBIT dollar growth of 8%. Flexible Packaging Sales: Sales increased 16% on a constant currency basis; comparable volumes up approximately 1% year-over-year. Flexible Packaging Adjusted EBIT: Up 20% on a constant currency basis to $533 million; adjusted EBIT margin of 15.1%. Rigid Packaging Sales: Sales increased 35% on a constant currency basis; comparable volumes up approximately 0.5%. Rigid Packaging Adjusted EBIT: Up 57% over last year to $352 million on a constant currency basis; adjusted EBIT margin of 12.3%, 180 basis points higher than prior year. Dividend: Quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share declared, a modest increase over prior year. Transition Period Outlook: Adjusted EPS expected in range of $1.80 to $1.90 per share for the 6 months ending December 31, 2026. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 12 Warning Signs with AMCCF. Is AMCCF fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 12, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Amcor PLC (AMCCF) delivered strong Q4 fiscal 2026 results with adjusted EPS of $1.23, up 23% year-over-year, and full-year adjusted EPS of $4.02, up 13%, exceeding expectations. The company achieved $285 million in synergies for fiscal 2026, approximately 10% ahead of its initial year-one target, and remains confident in reaching the $650 million three-year goal. Volume growth inflected to modestly positive in Q4, with sequential improvement of about 200 basis points, driven by broad-based gains across segments, regions, and focus categories like foodservice, pet care, and protein. Amcor PLC (AMCCF) successfully mitigated unprecedented input cost inflation through responsible pricing actions and productivity initiatives, maintaining stable price-cost relationships. The company is providing a positive outlook for calendar year 2027, expecting double-digit adjusted EPS growth, leverage of approximately 3x, and modest dividend growth, supported by a strong pipeline of growth synergies and portfolio optimization. Free cash flow for fiscal 2026 was $1.3 billion, $200 million below the outlook range, primarily due to higher-than-expected working capital impacts from the Middle East conflict and accelerated integration spending. The company faces ongoing headwinds from higher interest and tax expenses, which are expected to partially offset operating improvements in the transition period. Health care volumes declined in Q4 due to softness in lower-margin categories, although the mix shift toward higher-margin pharma products is a positive offset. The divestiture of noncore businesses is expected to have an unfavorable impact of $0.04 per share on adjusted EPS in the transition period. Leverage remains elevated at 3.5x, and the company expects it to stay in the 3.5x-3.6x range through December 2026, with a path to 3x only by end of calendar year 2027. Q: What is the company's outlook for calendar year 2027, and what are the key drivers of the expected double-digit adjusted EPS growth?A: CEO Peter Konieczny stated that calendar 2027 is expected to be the first "clean year" following the Amcor-Berry combination. The company has line of sight to delivering double-digit adjusted EPS growth, driven by the completion of actions required to deliver the $650 million synergy target, organic volume growth from a stronger, more diversified portfolio, and increased penetration in higher-growth, higher-margin focus categories. The company also expects leverage to be approximately 3x by year-end 2027 while modestly growing the dividend. Q: Can you elaborate on the volume performance in the fourth quarter and whether any one-off factors contributed to the growth?A: CEO Peter Konieczny noted that the volume performance was broad-based across core and noncore businesses, both segments, and regions. While the company identified two potential one-off factorscustomer buy-ahead due to inflation and the World Cupthey determined these were not material to the overall volume performance. CFO Steve Scherger added that July volumes continued consistent with Q4, indicating the positive momentum has carried into the first quarter of the transition period. Q: What is the expected impact of the Middle East conflict on working capital, and how much of the $500 million impact is expected to be recovered in the next 6 months?A: CFO Steve Scherger confirmed that the cumulative working capital impact from the Middle East conflict is approximately $500 million, up from the original estimate of $300 million, primarily due to higher accounts receivable. The company expects to recover the full $500 million over the next 12 months, with a portionpotentially in the $100 million to $300 million rangeexpected to be recovered during the 6-month transition period. The recovery will be driven by the reversal of conflict-related impacts and structural improvements in working capital metrics. Q: How is the company managing the price-cost dynamic given the rapid input cost inflation, and what is the assumption for the transition period?A: CFO Steve Scherger stated that in Q4, the company realized approximately $280 million in price pass-through, which was in line with the inflation experienced, resulting in a stable price-cost relationship. For the transition period, the company assumes that pricing will continue to offset inflation. CEO Peter Konieczny added that the organization performed excellently in recovering input cost increases, and the company will continue to adjust pricing responsibly based on supply chain normalization and resin cost movements. Q: Can you provide more detail on the $140 million of annualized revenue synergy wins and how they will convert into earnings?A: CEO Peter Konieczny explained that the revenue synergy wins are driven by combining complementary product portfolios (e.g., bottles and closures), leveraging the more global reach of Amcor for Berry products, and cross-referencing customers. These wins are expected to ramp up over 12 to 15 months to reach full revenue contribution. While the fiscal year earnings benefited by only a few million dollars from these wins, the contribution is expected to increase significantly through the transition period and into calendar 2027. Q: What are the key building blocks for the transition period adjusted EPS guidance of $1.80 to $1.90?A: CFO Steve Scherger detailed the bridge from the prior year's $1.83 adjusted EPS. The company expects a $0.04 unfavorable impact from completed divestitures, a $0.10 to $0.12 unfavorable impact from higher interest and taxes, and a $0.13 to $0.21 positive impact from synergy capture and net operating performance. The guidance implies roughly double-digit growth at the midpoint, with EBIT improvement of approximately $100 million driven primarily by synergy capture, partially offset by higher incentive compensation and reduced depreciation. Q: What is driving the softness in the health care category, and what gives confidence in its long-term growth?A: CEO Peter Konieczny clarified that the volume decline in health care is due to a mix shift, not a loss of competitiveness. The company is seeing reduced volumes in lower-margin medical subcategories, offset by strong progress in higher-margin pharma products like nasal, ophthalmic, and inhalation devices. This mix shift is actually leading to profit expansion in the health care business. The company highlighted wins in GLP-1 related products, progress with generics in India, and the ramp-up of air knife coating technology in Asia as key growth drivers. Q: What is the expected free cash flow generation over the next 12 to 18 months, and how does it support the deleveraging path?A: CFO Steve Scherger confirmed that the pathway to 3x leverage by the end of calendar 2027 is supported by three key factors: continued mid-single-digit EBITDA growth, the recovery of the $500 million in working capital related to the Middle East conflict, and the natural cash flow capabilities of the business. The company expects roughly $2.5 billion of free cash flow over the next 12 months, which aligns with the assumptions for reaching the 3x leverage target. Q: What are the assumptions for volume growth and cost inflation embedded in the transition period outlook?A: CFO Steve Scherger stated that the volume assumption for the transition period is flat to very modestly up. Regarding costs, the company does not provide specific outlooks for resin, fuel, or freight, but the fundamental assumption is that pricing will offset inflation. CEO Peter Konieczny added that the company is prepared to adjust pricing appropriately whether input costs rise or fall, ensuring the business and customers are managed responsibly. Q: How are the divestitures impacting the financials, and were there any gains recorded on the sales?A: CFO Steve Scherger confirmed that there was a modest gain on one of the asset sales, but it was not included in adjusted EPS figures and was recorded below the line with other adjustments. The divestitures are expected to have a $0.04 per share unfavorable impact on the transition period baseline. The company closed 5 divestitures in the second half of fiscal 2026 as part of its portfolio optimization strategy to focus on higher-return, higher-growth opportunities. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Amcor Plc AMCR has reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.23, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.20. The bottom line grew 23% from the year-ago quarter. The results benefited from the Berry Global acquisition, strong synergy realization, organic volume growth and productivity gains, which helped offset a challenging macro environment and significant input-cost inflation.Including special items, the company reported diluted earnings per share of 83 cents against a loss of 10 cents in the prior-year quarter. Amcor PLC price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Amcor PLC Quote Total revenues increased 26% year over year to $6.40 billion in the reported quarter. The top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.03 billion.The sales increase was largely driven by the Berry Global acquisition and the pass-through of higher raw-material costs. Organic volume increased around 0.5% from the year-ago period. The cost of sales rose 20.9% year over year to $5 billion. Gross profit rose 49.4% year over year to $1.34 billion. The gross margin was 20.9% compared with the year-ago quarter’s 17.6%.SG&A expenses were $568 million, up 39.2% year over year.Adjusted EBITDA was $1.05 billion, a 32% increase from $789 million in the prior-year quarter. The adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 16.3% from 15.5% a year earlier.The improvement reflected benefits from the Berry Global acquisition, synergy realization, organic volume growth and productivity. Amcor delivered around $115 million in synergies in the fourth quarter, ahead of expectations. Global Flexible Packaging Solutions: Net revenues increased 18% year over year to $3.53 billion in the reported quarter. Acquisitions contributed 10% to growth, while the pass-through of higher raw-material costs primarily drove the balance of the increase. Volumes increased 1% from the year-ago period. Our model projected net sales of $3.32 billion based on an expectation of year-over-year volume growth of 1% and a favorable acquisition benefit of 7%.The segment’s adjusted operating income came in at $533 million, growing 23% from $435 million in the prior-year quarter. Global Rigid Packaging Solutions: The segment reported revenues of $2.87 billion in the quarter, marking a 38% increase from $2.09 billion in the year-ago period. Acquisitions contributed 32% to growth, while the pass-through of higher raw-material costs primarily accounted for the remaining increase. Volumes rose 0.5%. We projected revenues of $2.69 billion for the segment with positive impacts of the Berry Global acquisition of 32% and volume growth of 1%.The segment’s adjusted EBIT surged 61% to $352 million from $219 million in the prior-year quarter. As of the end of fiscal 2026, Amcor had $1.12 billion in cash and cash equivalents compared with $0.83 billion at the end of fiscal 2025. The company generated $2.15 billion in cash from operating activities in fiscal 2025 compared with $1.34 billion in the prior fiscal year.AMCR generated a free cash flow of $1.30 billion in fiscal 2026 compared with $926 million in fiscal 2025. The company noted that free cash flow was below expectations due to higher-than-expected working-capital impacts related to the Middle East conflict and the timing of integration costs.As of June 30, 2026, Amcor’s net debt totaled $12.90 billion. The company’s leverage stood at 3.5 times, in line with expectations. AMCR expects to recover more than $500 million in cash-flow impacts related to the Middle East conflict and the timing of integration costs over the next 12 months. Amcor reported an adjusted EPS of $4.02 in fiscal 2026, up 13% from $3.56 in fiscal 2025. However, the figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.97.Including special items, AMCR reported EPS of $2.38 compared with $1.60 in fiscal 2025.Total revenues rose 57% year over year to $23.51 billion and beat the consensus estimate of $23.20 billion, largely driven by the Berry Global acquisition. Adjusted EBITDA increased 68% to $3.67 billion from $2.19 billion. AMCR expects adjusted earnings of $1.80-$1.90 per share for the six-month transition period ending Dec. 31, 2026, as it changes its year-end from June to December.For the three months ending Sept. 30, 2026, adjusted earnings are expected between 92 cents and 98 cents per share. Looking toward calendar 2027, the company expects double-digit adjusted earnings growth and is targeting leverage of 3.0 times by the year-end. Amcor also reaffirmed its three-year synergy target of $650 million, after delivering $285 million in fiscal 2026. In the past year, the company’s shares have gained 1.3% compared with the industry’s 6.4% growth. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research AMCR currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Packaging Corporation of America PKG reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.35 per share, falling 5.2% year over year but beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.31. The bottom line also came above Packaging Corp’s guidance of $2.33.Packaging Corp’s revenues increased 14.7% year over year to $2.49 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion by 3.6%. Total corrugated products shipments reached an all-time quarterly record, rising 24.3% both per day and in total from the prior-year quarter. Crown Holdings, Inc. CCK posted second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.49 per share, up 15.8% year over year. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.15 by 15.81%.Crown Holdings revenues increased 16.5% to $3.67 billion and beat the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion by 9.88%. Global beverage can volumes rose 5%, led by 6% growth in Europe and 5% growth in the Americas. This was partially offset by softer demand in Latin America.Sonoco Products Company SON reported adjusted earnings of $1.51 per share in the second quarter of 2026, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 by 2.72%. The figure rose 10.2% from $1.37 in the year-ago quarter. Pricing actions, favorable foreign-exchange movements and productivity gains helped offset the softer volume/mix during the quarter. Sonoco’s revenues of $1.885 billion declined 1.3% year over year and missed the consensus mark of $1.886 billion by 0.05%. Sonoco’s top line declined from the prior-year period primarily due to the absence of sales from the ThermoSafe business, which was divested in November 2025. 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 Amcor PLC (AMCR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sonoco Products Company (SON) : Free Stock Analysis Report Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Crown Holdings, Inc. (CCK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Interested in Amcor PLC? Here are five stocks we like better. Amcor’s earnings strengthened: Fiscal Q4 adjusted EPS rose 23% year over year to $1.23, while full-year adjusted EPS increased 13% to $4.02. Modest volume growth, cost controls, pricing actions and Berry Global synergies supported margins despite inflation. Berry synergies are ahead of plan: Amcor captured $285 million in fiscal 2026 synergies, about 10% above its initial first-year target, and remains committed to $650 million over three years. The company also secured nearly $140 million in Berry-related new business awards. Management sees improving momentum: Free cash flow fell short of guidance at $1.3 billion because of working-capital effects tied to the Middle East conflict, but Amcor expects to recover more than $500 million over the next year. It projects $1.80–$1.90 in adjusted EPS for the six-month transition period and expects double-digit adjusted EPS growth in calendar 2027. 3 Dividend Aristocrats Whose Yields Can Help Combat Inflation Amcor (NYSE:AMCR) reported fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.23, up 23% from a year earlier, as synergy gains from its acquisition of Berry Global, cost management and modest volume growth supported results amid elevated input-cost inflation. For the full fiscal year, adjusted EPS rose 13% to $4.02. Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $6.4 billion, while adjusted EBITDA reached $1.045 billion and adjusted EBIT was $836 million. Chief Executive Officer Peter Konieczny said the company’s diversified packaging portfolio and the Berry acquisition helped support margin expansion and operating performance despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. → SoundHound AI Sends a Loud Signal After Its Q2 Earnings Beat 4 Stocks That May Get a Big Earnings Bump This Week “We were pleased to see an inflection to modestly positive volume growth in the quarter,” Konieczny said. Volume improved about 200 basis points sequentially, with growth across several categories. He said the company’s teams secured supply, pursued productivity measures and used pricing actions to offset inflationary pressures. Amcor realized $115 million in synergies during the fourth quarter, bringing fiscal 2026 synergy capture to $285 million, approximately 10% above its initial first-year expectation. The company remains committed to achieving $650 million in total synergies over three years from the Berry transaction. → AST SpaceMobile Earnings Just Reminded Investors How Risky Space Can Be 3 Overlooked Dividend Plays for Income in Volatile Times The company attributed the stronger-than-expected result primarily to accelerated execution in general and administrative expenses and procurement. It also cited progress in operational and network synergies, which it expects to contribute to earnings growth and productivity over the next two years. Amcor said it achieved about half of its three-year growth-synergy target during the year, with nearly $140 million in new business awards against an initial three-year goal of $280 million. These wins include combining the legacy companies’ product offerings, expanding products into new geographies and cross-selling to customers. Konieczny said the awards are expected to ramp over roughly 12 to 15 months, with a larger earnings contribution anticipated during the transition period and calendar 2027. → First Solar’s Profit Engine Faces a New Policy Test in Washington The company also closed five divestitures during the second half of fiscal 2026 as it sought to increase its focus on higher-growth, higher-return businesses. Completed divestitures are expected to reduce prior-year adjusted EPS by $0.04 during the upcoming transition period. In Global Flexible Packaging Solutions, sales increased 16% on a constant-currency basis, mainly reflecting the Berry acquisition and the pass-through of higher raw-material costs. Comparable volumes rose about 1% year over year, an improvement of nearly 200 basis points from the prior quarter. Adjusted EBIT increased 20% on a constant-currency basis to $533 million, while adjusted EBIT margin was 15.1%. Global Rigid Packaging Solutions sales rose 35% on a constant-currency basis, also driven primarily by the Berry acquisition and higher raw-material pass-through. Comparable volume increased about 0.5% in both core and non-core businesses. Adjusted EBIT was $352 million, up 57% on a constant-currency basis, and adjusted EBIT margin improved 180 basis points to 12.3%. Within its core portfolio, Amcor reported strong volume growth in food service, pet care and protein categories. Liquids and beauty and wellness volumes were flat. Healthcare volumes declined because of weakness in lower-margin healthcare categories, although Konieczny said the company was seeing favorable mix toward higher-margin pharmaceutical products, including nasal, ophthalmic and inhalation devices. Management said volume gains were broad-based across the company’s core and non-core operations, segments and regions. Emerging markets continued to grow, led by Asia, while developed markets improved sequentially. Konieczny said food service, pet care and protein were among areas showing “green shoots,” while CFO Stephen Scherger said July volume trends remained consistent with the fourth quarter. Fiscal-year free cash flow was $1.3 billion after $290 million of Berry transaction, restructuring and integration-related cash costs. That total was $200 million below Amcor’s outlook range, largely because inventories and receivables were higher than expected amid the Middle East conflict, as well as accelerated integration spending. Scherger said the company expects to recover more than $500 million of cash over the next 12 months, primarily through the reversal of working-capital effects tied to the conflict and broader initiatives involving inventory, receivables and payables. He said Amcor could recover roughly $100 million to $300 million during the first six months of that period, depending in part on supply-chain conditions. Leverage ended the fiscal year at 3.5 times, in line with expectations and partly supported by divestiture proceeds. Amcor expects leverage of about 3 times by the end of calendar 2027, supported by cash generation and its commitment to maintaining an investment-grade credit rating. As part of a previously announced fiscal year-end transition, Amcor provided guidance for the six months ending Dec. 31, 2026. The company expects adjusted EPS of $1.80 to $1.90, compared with $1.83 in the comparable prior-year period before the impact of divestitures. Divestitures are expected to reduce adjusted EPS by $0.04 per share. Higher interest expense and taxes are expected to create a $0.10 to $0.12 per-share headwind. Synergies and net operating performance are expected to add $0.13 to $0.21 per share. Management’s outlook assumes flat to modestly positive volume growth and continued pricing actions that offset inflation. Scherger said the company recorded about $280 million of pricing pass-through during the fourth quarter, broadly matching inflation. For calendar 2027, Amcor said it has line of sight to double-digit adjusted EPS growth as portfolio actions, synergy realization and organic volume growth increasingly contribute. Konieczny said the company expects to complete the actions needed to deliver the majority of its $650 million synergy target by the end of 2027. The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, representing a modest increase from the prior year. Amcor (NYSE: AMCR) is a global packaging company specializing in the design, development and production of flexible and rigid packaging solutions for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home and personal care, and other consumer and industrial products. The company's product portfolio encompasses flexible films, pouches, specialty cartons, rigid containers, metal closures and dispensing systems. Amcor's packaging solutions are engineered to preserve product quality, extend shelf life and meet the specific requirements of a wide range of end markets. Founded in its current form in 2005 following a spin-off from a mining conglomerate, Amcor expanded its capabilities and geographic footprint through organic investments and strategic acquisitions. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Amcor Q4 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

Amcor Plc AMCR is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Aug. 12, before the opening bell.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AMCR’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenues is pegged at $6.06 billion, indicating a 19.3% rise from the year-ago reported figure.The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.20 per share. The consensus estimate indicates growth of 20% from the year-ago quarter's actual. The estimate has been unchanged in the past 60 days. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Amcor’s earnings met the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, beat in one and missed in one, the average negative surprise being 0.29%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Amcor this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that is not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.AMCR’s Earnings ESP: The Earnings ESP for Amcor is -0.64%.Amcor’s Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 4.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Amcor’s total volume had been bearing the brunt of weak consumer demand across its key markets due to the inflationary environment. Customers have also been lowering their inventory, which has impacted demand. Nonetheless, Amcor is expected to have gained from the rise in e-commerce activities worldwide.We expect 1% growth in volumes in the fiscal fourth quarter. Overall price/mix benefits are expected to be a positive 0.6% for the quarter and currency impacts are likely to have added another 1%.Amcor has been facing intermittent supply shortages and price volatility of certain resins and raw materials because of market dynamics and higher rates of inflation impacting other costs. The impacts of this are expected to be reflected in the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings results. We expect volume for the Global Flexible Packaging Solutions segment’s fiscal fourth quarter to be 1%. The price/mix and currency impacts are expected to be 1% each. Our sales projection for the Global Flexible Packaging Solutions segment is pegged at $3.32 billion, indicating 11% year-over-year growth. The effect of the merger is expected to have a positive impact of 7%. Our model estimates a 1% jump in volumes for the Global Rigid Packaging Solutions segment, a favorable currency impact of 1%. Price/mix is expected to be flat year over year. The sales projection for the segment is $2.69 billion, indicating a 29% year-over-year jump, including the positive impacts of the Berry Global acquisition, estimated at 32%. Over the past year, shares of Amcor have gained 5.4% compared with the industry’s 9.5% growth. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Packaging Corporation of America PKG reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.35 per share, down 5.2% year over year but beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.31. The bottom line also came above Packaging Corp’s guidance of $2.33.Packaging Corp’s revenues increased 14.7% year over year to $2.49 billion and surpassed the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion by 3.6%. Total corrugated products shipments reached an all-time quarterly record, rising 24.3% both per day and in total from the prior-year quarter. Crown Holdings, Inc. CCK posted second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $2.49 per share, up 15.8% year over year. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.15 by 15.81%.Crown Holdings revenues increased 16.5% to $3.67 billion and beat the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion by 9.88%. Global beverage can volumes rose 5%, led by 6% growth in Europe and 5% growth in the Americas. This was partially offset by softer demand in Latin America.Sonoco Products Company SON reported adjusted earnings of $1.51 per share in the second quarter of 2026, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 by 2.72%. The figure rose 10.2% from $1.37 in the year-ago quarter. Pricing actions, favorable foreign-exchange movements and productivity gains helped offset softer volume/mix during the quarter. Sonoco’s revenues of $1.885 billion declined 1.3% year over year and missed the consensus mark of $1.886 billion by 0.05%. Sonoco’s top line declined from the prior-year period primarily due to the absence of sales from the ThermoSafe business, which was divested in November 2025. 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 Amcor PLC (AMCR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Sonoco Products Company (SON) : Free Stock Analysis Report Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) : Free Stock Analysis Report Crown Holdings, Inc. (CCK) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

The upcoming report from Amcor (AMCR) is expected to reveal quarterly earnings of $1.20 per share, indicating an increase of 20% compared to the year-ago period. Analysts forecast revenues of $6.06 billion, representing an increase of 19.3% year over year. The current level reflects an upward revision of 0.1% in the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter over the past 30 days. This demonstrates how the analysts covering the stock have collectively reappraised their initial projections over this period. Before a company reveals its earnings, it is vital to take into account any changes in earnings projections. These revisions play a pivotal role in predicting the possible reactions of investors toward the stock. Multiple empirical studies have consistently shown a strong association between trends in earnings estimates and the short-term price movements of a stock. While investors usually depend on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to assess the business performance for the quarter, delving into analysts' forecasts for certain key metrics often provides a more comprehensive understanding. With that in mind, let's delve into the average projections of some Amcor metrics that are commonly tracked and projected by analysts on Wall Street. The consensus estimate for 'Net Sales- Global Flexible Packaging Solutions' stands at $3.47 billion. The estimate indicates a year-over-year change of +8.2%. The collective assessment of analysts points to an estimated 'Net Sales- Global Rigid Packaging Solutions' of $2.68 billion. The estimate indicates a change of +42.7% from the prior-year quarter. According to the collective judgment of analysts, 'Adjusted EBIT- Global Flexible Packaging Solutions' should come in at $536.17 million. The estimate compares to the year-ago value of $450.00 million. It is projected by analysts that the 'Adjusted EBIT- Global Rigid Packaging Solutions' will reach $315.20 million. The estimate is in contrast to the year-ago figure of $204.00 million. View all Key Company Metrics for Amcor here>>> Over the past month, shares of Amcor have returned +10.2% versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +2.3% change. Currently, AMCR carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), suggesting that it may underperform the overall market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> . 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 Amcor PLC (AMCR) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research