Packaging Corp. reports Q1 EPS ex-items $2.40, consensus $2.13

Reports Q1 revenue $2.37B, consensus $2.42B. Commenting on reported results, Mark W. Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO, said, “We achieved a first quarter record in shipments per day in our legacy corrugated operations. We saw continued demand improvement which, together with improved mix, drove our strong earnings performance for the quarter. Our containerboard mills performed exceptionally well both in terms of production and efficiency, which helped us mitigate the effects of higher freight, recycled fiber and other input costs as well as the weather challenges we faced earlier in the quarter. We continued to make good progress on the integration of our acquired Greif business, and significantly reduced inventories on hand at the corrugated operations. With strong demand and second quarter maintenance outages at five of our containerboard mills, we will need to continue to run the mill system at full capacity to support our containerboard needs. Our Paper segment exceeded our expectations on sales volume and we began to implement our previously announced price increases, driving high margins and profitability. I am very proud of the performance of our people across the entire business, achieving commercial and operating success that is evident in our results.”