Executive Summary#

Reported Earnings Mask Underlying Operational Strength#

PKG reported third quarter 2025 results that tell two distinctly different stories depending on where an investor chooses to focus. The headline—reported earnings per share of $2.51 against $2.64 in the prior year—would normally signal deterioration and trigger cautious reassessment from equity analysts. Yet stripped of the $0.22 per-share dilution from Greif acquisition integration costs and facility closure charges, the company delivered adjusted earnings of $2.73 per share, a three per cent advance over the $2.65 achieved in Q3 2024. This divergence matters considerably for investors trying to distinguish genuine operational momentum from transactional noise at a company in the midst of repositioning its containerboard assets and reshaping its cost structure around newly integrated mill operations. Net sales expanded 6.0 per cent to $2.313 billion from $2.182 billion in the prior year, with the Packaging segment contributing approximately 92 per cent of consolidated revenue and demonstrating sustained pricing power despite a cautious industrial demand environment marked by soft export volumes and measured customer inventory reduction.