Packaging of America Reports Q4 EPS $0.40 vs $0.37 Est; Revenues $654.3M vs $637.11M Est
Packaging Corporation of America (NYSE: PKG) today reported fourth quarter 2011 net income of $39 million, or $0.40 per share. Reported results for the fourth quarter of 2010 were $53 million, or $0.52 per share, excluding income from biofuel tax credits and asset disposal charges.
Lower earnings per share, compared to last year's fourth quarter, were driven by cost inflation ($0.10) lower containerboard export prices ($0.03) increased depreciation ($0.02) and other items ($0.02) These items were partially offset by lower energy and chemical usage ($0.03) and higher corrugated products volume ($0.03)
Excluding special items, full year earnings were $162 million, or $1.61 per share, compared to 2010 earnings of $166 million, or $1.62 per share. Price and mix ($0.38) higher volume ($0.17) and cost reduction benefits ($0.06) improved earnings per share, but was offset by cost inflation ($0.56) and higher depreciation expense ($0.05)
Net sales in the fourth quarter were $654 million, up 4% compared to fourth quarter 2010 net sales of $627 million, and full year net sales were a record $2.6 billion, up 8% over 2010.
Corrugated products shipments were up 9.0% per workday and total shipments were up 7.2%, with one less workday, compared to last year's fourth quarter. Outside sales of containerboard were essentially equal to last year. Containerboard production was 640,000 tons, up 2,000 tons over the fourth quarter of 2010, and PCA ended the year with its containerboard inventories about 11,000 tons below 2010 year-end levels.
