By the numbers: Q3 2025
Net sales: $3.38B
Up 9.6% year over year
Beverage packaging sales, North and Central America: $1.64B
Up 12.5% year over year
Net earnings attributable to Ball: $321M
Up from $197M in Q3 2024
- Overview: Ball’s global aluminum packaging shipments increased 3.9% in the third quarter, the company reported, with beverage can volumes up 4.2%. “In our North American business, stronger-than-expected volume growth across nonalcoholic categories, particularly energy drinks, gives us confidence that we will exceed the top end of our long-term 1% to 3% volume growth range in 2025,” CEO Dan Fisher said during an earnings call Tuesday. Like some other can makers, Ball noted softness in Q3 in Brazil, citing weather: “We anticipate a recovery in the fourth quarter as conditions normalize,” Fisher said.
- Beverage trends: Fisher said customers and pack size mix favored lower-margin categories during the quarter, “driven by market trends as well as our deliberate choices to align with the fastest-growing brands and continue to future-proof our North America business.” Customers are running promotions and embracing multi-value packs. Fisher noted industry growth with the 7.5-ounce mini can size.
- Tariffs: Ball described the direct impact from announced tariffs as “manageable.” Fisher said the company is currently passing through about a 25% to 30% price increase to customers in North America. The company is “actively working with our customers to mitigate the effects of volatility in aluminum premium prices,” according to the earnings release. “Our strategy emphasizes local sourcing and manufacturing, reducing our exposure to international trade fluctuations.”
- Production: Ball is looking ahead to the opening of a facility in Millersburg, Oregon, in the second half of next year to serve customers in the West. “We’re a bit hamstrung on growth in 2026 until we get our Millersburg facility up,” Fisher said, which will “unlock a much more efficient supply chain.” While there will be notable startup costs in 2026, Fisher projected “approximately $1.5 billion of improved volume in 2027 ... And that's going to be unlocked from really a very tight portfolio in the western half of the U.S., in Texas, in Mexico, in the Southwest.” During the quarter, Ball partnered with Red Bull to break ground on a $1.7 billion facility in North Carolina following a four-year delay.
- Outlook: Ball anticipates 2025 global volume growth could exceed 3%. It expects to meet its target of 12% to 15% comparable diluted earnings per share growth for the year.
