Ball earnings hold steady amid worldwide downturn

BROOMFIELD — Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) appears to be weathering the COVID-19 storm and its corresponding economic downturn.

The can manufacturer with a major aerospace division posted first-quarter net attributable earnings of $23 million, or 7 cents per diluted share, on sales of $2.8 billion. That sales figure is nearly identical to the one posted by the firm in the first quarter of 2019. 

Wall Street reacted positively to Ball’s earning report before it settled to $65.89 per share, a gain of 0.26% on the day.

“First and foremost, we extend our gratitude to our front-line manufacturing teams, our supply chain and our customers for their dedication to working safely and maintaining a reliable supply of packaging, aerospace technologies and services to our customers and consumers. Ball is fortunate to have a strong balance sheet, ample liquidity, a ‘can-do’ culture and a business model that has successfully weathered other turbulent economic times over our 140-year history,” Ball CEO John Hayes said in a prepared statement.

Ball has liquid assets of $800 million in cash on hand, $550 million in committed credit facilities and  $500 million in uncommitted lines of credit.

“During the initial stages of the pandemic, we have taken appropriate actions to focus on cash and liquidity, while continuing to pay dividends and execute on our growth investments,” Ball chief financial officer Scott Morrison said in a statement. “Looking forward, we expect to generate free cash flow in the range of $500 million in 2020, and will have the opportunity to accelerate the return of value to shareholders later in 2020 and beyond.”

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