Packaging Corp of America

Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) makes corrugated boxes, the sturdy cardboard boxes used to ship goods. Its mills make containerboard. That means linerboard, the flat outer layers of a box, and corrugating medium, the wavy middle layer. Its plants turn that board into shipping boxes, printed retail displays and protective packaging. As of December 31, 2025, PCA was the third largest containerboard producer in North America. It had ten mills and 91 corrugated products plants, all in the United States.

PCA sells to about 12,000 customers at about 27,000 locations, and no single customer accounts for more than 10% of segment sales. About 70% of corrugated sales go to regional and local accounts. Most of the other 30% goes to large national accounts. Boxes are bulky, so each plant serves customers within roughly 150 miles, and competition is mostly regional. Many customer contracts tie prices to published industry price surveys, so results rise and fall with the industry cycle.

PCA reports three segments: Packaging, Paper, and Corporate and Other. Packaging is far larger by capacity. It can make about 5.8 million tons of containerboard a year. The Paper segment has a single mill in International Falls, Minnesota, that can make roughly 500,000 tons of office and printing papers a year. Packaging grew on September 2, 2025, when PCA paid $1.8 billion in cash for Greif's containerboard business, adding two mills and eight plants. Total revenue was $8.99 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025.

• In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $2.49B, up 14.7% from a year earlier, and net income was $192.1M (-20.5%).
• For fiscal 2025, revenue was $8.99B (+7.2% year over year; +6.2% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 8.6% net margin.

• Over FY2021–FY2025: $910.1M in buybacks and $2.15B in dividends.
• Regular dividends per share grew +8.2% a year over 5 years (FY2020–FY2025).
• Dividends took 58.1% of earnings and 61.7% of free cash flow in the latest fiscal year.
• Shares outstanding changed -6.2% from Oct 29, 2021 to Jul 31, 2026.

Rank among 1514 US companies

Market value at each year end

Packaging Corp of America’s market value went from $7.99B at the end of 2016 to $23.04B on Nov 2, 2026, about 2.9 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 24%.

Form 4 filings from 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-29 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 5 sales ($12.2M).

Large shareholders (13G filings)

ETFs with the most weight in PKG

1. Greif acquisition may not pay off. PCA paid $1.8 billion in cash for Greif's containerboard business on September 2, 2025. The two mills and eight plants could underperform expectations or prove harder to integrate than planned.
2. Box and paper prices swing with the cycle. Prices depend on U.S. demand and on rivals' capacity and production decisions, and PCA has little influence over them. Many contracts track prices published by trade publications, so oversupply can cut earnings.
3. Big national rivals and local box makers. PCA competes with International Paper, Smurfit WestRock, Georgia-Pacific and Pratt Industries, plus many smaller independents. Intense competition can push down prices and volumes, lowering earnings and operating cash flow.
4. Rising fiber, natural gas and chemical costs. Fiber is its largest raw material cost. Natural gas made up 76% of purchased fuel at its packaging mills in 2025. PCA may not recover higher costs through its prices.
5. Mill outages and extreme weather. A serious disruption at a mill, including extreme weather, could leave PCA unable to meet demand. The Paper segment relies on a single mill in International Falls, Minnesota.
6. Debt payments limit flexibility. As of June 30, 2026, PCA had $3.97 billion of debt against $667 million in cash and investments. Interest and repayment obligations can reduce its flexibility, especially in a downturn.

• Oct 22, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Jul 23, 2026 Quarterly results released
• May 13, 2026 Shareholder vote results
• Apr 23, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Mar 3, 2026 Executive or board change
• Jan 28, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Dec 10, 2025 Investor presentation or announcement
• Dec 4, 2025 Restructuring or exit costs; Asset impairment

PCA pays a regular dividend, and the yield was 2.21% as of October 28, 2026. Dividends per share rose from $3.37 in fiscal 2020 to $5.00 in fiscal 2023, then stayed at $5.00 through fiscal 2025, so there is no running streak of increases. In fiscal 2025, dividends took 58.1% of earnings and 61.7% of free cash flow (cash left after capital spending). PCA spent $910 million on buybacks from fiscal 2021 to 2025, and its share count fell 6.2% between October 2021 and July 2026.

The share price has fallen sharply in downturns. It fell 66.8% from October 2007 to March 2009 and took about 22 months from the bottom to recover. It dropped 24.8% in the 2020 COVID crash but regained its peak about two months after the low. In 2022 it fell 31.8% and recovered in November 2023. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.