Packaging Corporation Of America Q2 Profit Rises - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) reported second quarter net income of $114 million, or $1.16 per share, compared to $100 million, or $1.01 per share, last year. Earnings included a net charge for special items for the Boise integration and DeRidder, Louisiana mill restructuring of $2 million, or $0.02 per share. Excluding special items, second quarter 2015 net income was $116 million, or $1.18 per share.

On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.03 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales were $1.45 billion compared to $1.47 billion, prior year. Analysts expected revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter.

Mark Kowlzan, CEO, said "We had an outstanding quarter operationally in both our mills and box plants which increased earnings significantly over prior guidance. The benefits from the improvements made at the DeRidder mill, during its first quarter outage, were realized faster than expected, which allowed further grade optimization in our containerboard mill system. In corrugated products, our sales mix improved seasonally more than we expected contributing to higher earnings."

Packaging Corporation of America expects third quarter earnings of $1.28 per share. Analysts expect the company to report third-quarter earnings per share of $1.23.

Packaging Corporation of America also announced that its Board has authorized the repurchase of an additional $150 million of the company's outstanding common stock. Together with remaining authority under previously announced programs, the company may repurchase approximately $205 million of additional shares.