“The increase in interest expense, net was primarily due to higher interest expense in 2026 as a result of the Company’s financing for the Greif Acquisition and lower interest income as a result of lower interest rates on lower cash balances.”10-Q · Aug 7, 2026 ↗
Packaging Corporation of America
PKG
Market read
Packaging Corporation of America's current read is isolated; its market group is not confirming.
The latest filing evidence is available. 0 of 26 group members are active now; 0 filing-linked outsiders are moving with the group, and 0 of 27 directly disclosed connections are confirming.
- Revenue increased 14.7% versus the comparable filing period.
- Operating margin fell 3.7 percentage points.
- Greif acquisition financing and lower cash balances increased net interest expense in the latest reported period.
Invalidation: The isolated read changes if PKG's group or a disclosed connection begins moving with it.
Research brief
The story so far
The latest filing evidence is available. 0 of 26 group members are active now; 0 filing-linked outsiders are moving with the group, and 0 of 27 directly disclosed connections are confirming.
- Revenue increased 14.7% versus the comparable filing period.
- Operating margin fell 3.7 percentage points.
- Net income decreased 20.5% versus the comparable filing period.
- Gross margin fell 1.7 percentage points.
- Greif acquisition financing and lower cash balances increased net interest expense in the latest reported period.
Company research
Understand the business, not just the ticker
Use the company’s filings to identify the few operating, demand, cost, capital and regulatory variables that determine its earnings power.
- Which operating variable is changing?
- Is that change durable, cyclical or one-off?
- What evidence would disprove the current interpretation?
- Latest annual revenue changed +7.2% year over year.
- Operating cash flow covered net income at 2.01x in the latest annual period.
- Credit and interest rates has repeated adverse evidence across 5 filings.
- Input and raw-material costs has repeated adverse evidence across 5 filings.
- P/E is 41% above the available filing-peer median; determine whether growth and quality justify the difference.
- EV/sales is 171% above the available filing-peer median; determine whether growth and quality justify the difference.
Price as of Sep 10, 2026
232.74Reported annual revenue and per-share history. This is accounting history, not a forecast.
What management says matters
Persistent and emerging business drivers
“The increase was driven primarily by the impact of newly acquired Greif operations ($48 million), higher containerboard and corrugated products prices and mix ($18 million), lower fiber costs ($11 million), lower labor and operating costs ($8 million), higher…”10-Q · Aug 7, 2026 ↗
“The increase was driven primarily by higher volumes and higher prices and mix in the Packaging and Paper segments, lower maintenance outage expense and lower fiber costs, partially offset by higher freight expense, higher operating costs, and higher fixed and…”10-Q · Aug 7, 2026 ↗
“The first six months of 2026 included $83 million of special items expense related to Wallula mill restructuring, corrugated products facility closures, and recent acquisitions, compared to $17 million of special items income primarily related to gains on sal…”10-Q · Aug 7, 2026 ↗
Valuation discipline
Descriptive valuation snapshot
Price/sales 2.3× · EV/sales 2.7×. Comparisons use only industry-matched filing peers.
Mechanical 2.0-year scenarios are available as editable assumptions, not consensus.
Price action
How the market is pricing the story
Jodie does not have enough daily observations to draw a useful short-term chart for this asset. The latest quoted price was checked 10 Sept, 15:55 GMT-4; this is a coverage limitation, not a flat-price conclusion.
Developments
No sourced recent-development timeline yet
Jodie has not returned a relevant primary source or news item for PKG. This is an evidence-coverage gap, not a conclusion that nothing material happened.
Business and financial condition
Reported financial figures are not available yet
Jodie has not returned structured SEC XBRL fundamentals for this asset. This is a coverage limitation, not an assessment of the business or its financial health.
Latest filing assessment
The latest filing shows material pressure
10-Q filed 2026-08-07 against the comparable filing from 2025-08-07.
Capital and cash conversion
Investment load increased
Capital spending consumed more revenue while free-cash-flow margin declined.
- Capital spending YoY
- +16.6%
- Capital spending / revenue
- +7.6%
- Free-cash-flow margin
- +6.9%
- FCF margin change
- -0.6 pts
Capex, revenue, and operating cash flow are matched to the same reported duration. Reported accounting context, not a forecast or trading recommendation.
What improved
- Revenue increased 14.7% versus the comparable filing period.
What weakened
- Operating margin fell 3.7 percentage points.
- Net income decreased 20.5% versus the comparable filing period.
- Gross margin fell 1.7 percentage points.
Filing receipts
“Cash from operations decreased by $30 million when comparing the first six months of 2026 to the same period in 2025 due to changes in operating assets and liabilities primarily due to the following: a) a net unfavorable change in accounts receivable due to a larger increase in accounts receivable levels during the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025 primarily due to higher sales volumes in 2026 when compared to 2025, and an increase in days sales outstanding arising out of the ordinary course of business; and b) a net unfavorable change in prepaid expenses and other current assets during the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025 primarily rel...”
“The increase was driven primarily by the impact of newly acquired Greif operations ($36 million) and higher sales and production volume ($31 million), partially offset by higher freight expenses ($28 million), lower containerboard and corrugated products prices and mix ($14 million), higher fixed and other expenses ($8 million), higher maintenance outage expenses ($5 million), higher depreciation expense ($2 million), higher fiber costs ($2 million), and higher labor and operating costs ($1 million).”
“The increase was driven primarily by the impact of newly acquired Greif operations ($48 million), higher containerboard and corrugated products prices and mix ($18 million), lower fiber costs ($11 million), lower labor and operating costs ($8 million), higher sales and production volume ($7 million), and lower maintenance outage expenses ($5 million), partially offset by higher freight expenses ($42 million), higher depreciation expense ($8 million) and higher fixed and other expenses ($7 million).”
Point-in-time filing assessment published from the live pipeline.
Business ecosystem
The relationships behind PKG
Customers, suppliers, partners and competitors named in company filings—not inferred from headlines.
Depends on
BCCBoise Cascade CompanypartnerFeb 26, 2026 ▾
“Corporate and Other Revenue Revenue in this segment primarily relates to Louisiana Timber Procurement Company, L.L.C.”
BCCBoise Cascade CompanysupplierMay 8, 2026 ▾
“Most of these purchases related to chip and log purchases by LTP from Boise Cascade's wood products business.”
Depended on by
SON37.8% of SONcustomerFeb 26, 2026 ▾
“Segment net sales increased $775.9 million over the corresponding prior year quarter primarily as a result of $758.2 million of net sales, including the impact of foreign exchange rates, attributable to Metal Packaging EMEA following the December 2024 acquisi…”
Filing peers
Companies whose filings use similar operating language.
Open the three relationships above to see Jodie’s filing proof. Pro unlocks 24 more links, every receipt, and alerts when connected names begin moving. Unlock the full network →
What is moving around it
Live connections
PKG is currently a Follower in the organic co-movement group Cyclical Demand. This group is discovered from market behaviour rather than assigned from an industry taxonomy. 3 filing-linked names are in the relationship map; none is currently confirmed as moving with the group.
Context history
Theme membership history
No durable theme membership has been observed for this name yet.