Ball's Q2 2026 sales rose 19.7% to $4.0 billion, mostly from passing higher aluminum costs on to customers; diluted EPS rose 9.2% to $0.83 (comparable EPS +14.4% to $1.03), helped by South America and fewer shares, while North American earnings slipped.
Revenue
$4.0B
+19.7% YoY
Net income
$221M
+4.2% YoY
Diluted EPS
$0.83
+9.2% YoY
Operating margin
8.7%
Overview
Ball Corporation makes aluminum beverage cans for brewers, soft-drink and energy-drink companies across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the second quarter of 2026 (April–June), sales jumped 19.7% to $3.997 billion, but most of that jump reflects higher aluminum prices, not more business. Ball's contracts let it pass the cost of aluminum on to its customers, so when the metal gets more expensive, both revenue and costs go up by roughly the same dollar amount. Of the $659 million sales increase, the 10-Q attributes $542 million to price/mix, "mainly from higher aluminum prices," and only $65 million to higher volume.
Profit grew much more slowly. Net earnings attributable to Ball rose 4.2% to $221 million, and diluted EPS (profit per share) rose 9.2% to $0.83. EPS grew faster than profit because Ball has about 3.8% fewer shares outstanding than a year ago (267.1 million diluted vs. 277.8 million) after its heavy 2025 buybacks. There were no discontinued operations in the quarter, so continuing and total earnings are the same.
Ball also reports "comparable" figures, which strip out restructuring charges, amortization of acquired intangibles, and gains or losses on some investments. On that basis, EPS rose 14.4% to $1.03 (from $0.90) and comparable operating earnings rose 7.7% to $433 million, according to the earnings release (8-K Exhibit 99.1, August 4, 2026).
Key metrics
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Net sales
$3,997M
$3,338M
+19.7%
Operating margin (GAAP, computed)¹
8.7%
10.3%
-1.6 pts
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¹ Ball does not report an operating-income line. This is net sales minus cost of sales, depreciation and amortization, SG&A and business consolidation charges: $347M vs. $344M, calculated from the income statement.
² From the Q2 2026 earnings release (8-K Exhibit 99.1), not the 10-Q.
First half (six months to June 30): sales $7.600 billion (+18.1%), net earnings attributable to Ball $426 million (+9.0%), diluted EPS $1.59 vs. $1.39 (+14.4%), and comparable diluted EPS $1.97 vs. $1.67 (+18.0%, per the release). The first half of 2025 included a $2 million loss from discontinued operations. In 2026 that line is zero.
Why margins fell even as profit dollars held up
The lower margin percentage mostly reflects how aluminum pass-through works, not weaker pricing. When aluminum costs more, Ball charges more for each can and pays more for the metal. Profit in dollars can stay roughly the same while both sales and costs grow, so profit as a share of sales shrinks. The 10-Q shows cost of sales rising $610 million, "primarily due to higher raw materials costs of $506 million... driven by higher aluminum prices and higher volumes." That rise almost matches the $542 million price/mix gain in sales. GAAP operating profit in dollars was basically unchanged ($347M vs. $344M), while the margin fell from 10.3% to 8.7%.
Several other items came between operating results and net profit this quarter:
Business consolidation charges rose to $22 million from $12 million, "primarily composed of expenses associated with tariff contingencies where the company is seeking recovery and costs for previously announced facility closures."
A $13 million unrealized loss on ORG-linked notes. Ball holds investment notes whose value tracks the shares of ORG Technology, the company it bought the Benepack can plants from. This loss sits in SG&A under GAAP but is excluded from comparable earnings. The six-month loss is $27 million.
The effective tax rate (the share of pre-tax profit paid as tax) rose to 23.4% from 22.8%.
Interest expense eased to $79 million from $81 million because of lower average rates, and interest income doubled to $10 million.
Segment performance: South America carried the quarter
Segment
Q2 2026 sales
Q2 2025 sales
Comparable op. earnings Q2 2026
Q2 2025
Change
Margin 2026 vs. 2025
Volume (per release)
North & Central America
$2,006M
$1,613M
$207M
$212M
-2.4%
10% vs. 13%
+low single digits
EMEA
$1,242M
$1,123M
$162M
$152M
+6.6%
13% vs. 14%
+mid single digits
South America
$591M
$477M
$82M
$50M
+64%
14% vs. 10%
+mid-teens
Segment figures reflect the 2026 reporting changes described at the end of this section.
North & Central America is Ball's largest segment. Sales rose 24% there, mostly from aluminum ($380 million of price/mix, "mainly from higher aluminum prices," plus higher volume), but earnings fell $5 million. The 10-Q attributes the drop to "higher costs of $44 million, primarily due to higher volumes, operating costs and plant start up costs," partly offset by $28 million from price/mix "including the timing of metal pass through to our customers." Timing matters because Ball's contracts pass aluminum costs on with a delay: when the metal price is rising, Ball can pay more before it recovers the cost from customers, and the reverse when prices fall. For the first half, segment earnings were flat at $412 million: $55 million of price/mix and $20 million of volume gains were entirely absorbed by $74 million of higher costs. Customers are buying more cans, but none of that growth is reaching earnings yet.
EMEA earnings rose $10 million. Price/mix and higher volume added $58 million, and higher costs took away $71 million. The segment now includes the Benepack business (two can plants in Belgium and Hungary; Ball bought 80% of it in January 2026 for $76 million net of cash acquired) and the plants in India and Myanmar that used to be reported separately. As a result, part of the growth comes from acquired plants. For the half-year, $110 million of the $272 million sales increase came from currency translation: a weaker dollar makes European sales look bigger in dollars.
South America swung from the weakest segment a year ago (a 10% margin in Q2 2025) to the strongest this quarter at 14%, with earnings up $32 million on "higher price/mix and higher volume." Volume grew by a mid-teens percentage. Part of the swing comes from a weak comparison: Q2 2025 earnings of $50 million were also the lowest of any quarter in 2025 for this segment ($67M, $50M, $77M, $121M).
Corporate and other costs rose to an $18 million loss from $12 million. Undistributed corporate expenses (head-office costs not charged to any segment) rose to $45 million from $30 million.
Reporting change: from Q1 2026, Ball moved its former "other" beverage plants into EMEA and redefined comparable operating earnings. It now also excludes factoring fees (the cost of selling customer invoices to banks for early cash), foreign-exchange gains and losses, stock-based pay and total amortization. The 2025 figures above have been restated on the same basis, so they are comparable with 2026 but differ from what Ball originally reported for Q2 2025.
Takeaway: Ball's comparable EPS grew 14.4%, but the parts added up differently than they look. Segment comparable earnings rose $37 million, and $32 million of that came from South America against a weak prior-year quarter. North America, which provides roughly half of sales, earned less on more cans because of start-up and operating costs. A reduced share count added the rest. For the 10%-plus EPS target to hold without relying on buybacks, North American costs need to come down.
Cash, buybacks and leverage
Cash flow is seasonal and negative so far this year. Operating cash flow for the first half was -$169 million (vs. -$333 million a year earlier), driven by a $1.01 billion working-capital outflow. Working capital is cash tied up in inventory and unpaid customer invoices. Inventories stood at $2.52 billion vs. $1.73 billion a year earlier, a 45% increase that reflects both more cans and more expensive aluminum. After $302 million of capital spending, first-half free cash flow was -$471 million (release). Adjusted for $104 million of taxes paid on the earlier sale of Ball's aerospace business, the release puts it at -$575 million.
Buybacks slowed sharply and then resumed. Repurchases in the first half were $115 million, compared with $1.02 billion a year earlier. Almost all of the 2026 buying came in May and June: 1.78 million shares at an average of about $56–57, which works out to roughly $100 million at the disclosed average prices. $2.82 billion remains under the $4 billion authorization that runs through 2027.
Leverage rose. Total debt was $7.22 billion (vs. $7.01 billion at year-end 2025), and cash fell to $491 million from $1.21 billion. Net debt (debt minus cash) is now $6.73 billion. The release puts leverage (net debt ÷ trailing 12-month comparable EBITDA, a measure of how many years of cash earnings it would take to repay debt) at 3.16x, up from 2.83x at December 31. That is well inside the covenant maximum of 5.0x (tightening to 4.5x from March 31, 2027), but it is moving in the wrong direction while Ball plans more buybacks.
Outlook
Management guidance (release and 10-Q):
Comparable diluted EPS growth of 10%-plus for 2026. Through the first half it was +18.0%.
Free cash flow greater than $900 million for 2026.
At least $800 million returned to shareholders: about $600 million in buybacks and about $210 million in dividends. With $115 million bought back by June 30, roughly $485 million of repurchases would have to fall in the second half.
2026 capital spending of about $600 million.
What to watch in Q3: Ball expects its U.K. pension plan "buy-out" in the third quarter, meaning the obligation will be transferred to an insurer. That triggers a noncash settlement charge, and $454 million of unrecognized pension losses sat in accumulated other comprehensive income at June 30. This will likely depress Q3 GAAP earnings significantly. It should be excluded from comparable results and does not consume cash.
Our view: Hitting the targets depends heavily on the second half. With free cash flow at -$471 million through June, reaching more than $900 million for the year requires roughly $1.37 billion or more in the second half. That is plausible only if the working capital tied up in higher-priced aluminum inventory and receivables comes back, as it normally does late in the year, and aluminum prices don't keep climbing. The EPS target looks more secure: the first half is already well ahead of 10%, and the smaller share count helps every quarter. The weak spot is North America, where volumes rose while earnings fell. Watch whether Q3 shows plant start-up costs fading there. If they don't, the second half will depend on South America and buybacks again.
Source: Ball Corporation Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (filed August 4, 2026). Comparable (non-GAAP) figures, shipment growth, leverage and free-cash-flow guidance are from the Q2 2026 earnings release, 8-K Exhibit 99.1, filed the same day.