Packaging Corp. of America (NYSE: PKG) didn't hit the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors hope that it will rebound this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Monday. Packaging Corp. of America is a producer of containerboard and corrugated products in the United States. It is comprised of mills and corrugated manufacturing operations.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold? Analysts are very bullish on this stock, unanimously backing it as a buy. Analysts like Packaging Corp. of America better than competitor Temple-Inland overall. Three out of seven analysts rate Temple-Inland a buy compared to nine of nine for Packaging Corp. of America. Analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, but they are a bit more wary about it compared to three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $632.2 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 2.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of 34 cents per share. Estimates range from 33 cents to 35 cents.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly behind the stock with 95.8% granting it an "outperform" rating. The community at large concurs with the All Stars with 93.1% assigning it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Packaging Corp. of America, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 48 posts in the past 30 days. Even with a robust four out of five stars, Packaging Corp. of America's CAPS rating falls a little short of the community's upbeat outlook.

Management:
Packaging Corp. of America's profit has risen year over year by an average of 13%. The company raised its gross margin by 5.4 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 14.3% while cost of sales rose 7% to $496.4 million from a year earlier.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Gross Margin

21.2%

23.5%

25.9%

21.4%

Operating Margin

10.5%

15.4%

-1.9%

11%

Net Margin

5.9%

8.8%

14.5%

6.2%

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