Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation has announced plans to build a new two-line beverage can manufacturing facility in Uttar Pradesh, India, expanding its manufacturing footprint in one of its most important strategic growth markets. The project, backed by secured customer contracts, is expected to deliver strong EVA and is in line with the company's expectation that capital expenditure will average depreciation and amortization over time, with the facility expected to become operational in 2029. Ball Corp entered India in 2016 and already operates facilities in Taloja and Sri City that supply a wide range of beverage can formats for global and leading domestic brands, and the company aims to establish a plant network spanning the majority of the country. Ball's India operations sit within its Beverage Packaging, EMEA segment, which accounted for 31% of second quarter 2026 sales; segment sales rose 10.6% to $1.24 billion and comparable operating earnings increased 6.6% to $162 million, with shipments growing at a mid-single-digit rate. Ball Corp reported comparable earnings of $1.03 per share for the second quarter of 2026, up 14.4% year over year and 4% above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 99 cents, while total sales climbed 19.7% to $3.98 billion and beat the consensus mark of $3.67 billion by 9%, with global shipment growth of 4.3% exceeding the company's long-term volume growth of 2-3%.

Ball Corporation reported second-quarter CY2026 revenue of $4.00 billion, exceeding analyst expectations by 9.8% and growing 19.7% year on year. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.03, a 4.3% beat over the consensus estimate of $0.99. Operating margin held steady at 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year, while free cash flow margin improved to 11.7% from 7.1%. CEO Ron Lewis attributed the strong results to higher volumes, disciplined execution, and the resilience of the company's sustainable packaging business model.

Zacks Investment Research featured NVIDIA, Neurocrine Biosciences, and Ball Corporation as top earnings growth stocks for the second half of 2026. NVIDIA, a leading AI infrastructure company, has an expected earnings growth rate of 90.8% for the current year and holds a Zacks Rank of 2, or Buy. Neurocrine Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical firm focused on neurological and psychiatric treatments, shows an expected earnings growth rate of 48.4% and carries a Zacks Rank of 1, or Strong Buy. Ball Corporation, a global supplier of aluminum packaging, has an expected earnings growth rate of 11.8% and a Zacks Rank of 2. The three stocks were selected from a screen that narrowed a universe of roughly 7,839 stocks down to 24 based on a history of earnings growth and rising quarterly and annual earnings estimates.