Crown Holdings Beats Q3 With EPS of $2.39, but Q4 Guidance Disappoints

Crown Holdings (CCK) beat third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations, driven by stronger beverage can shipments, but gave fourth-quarter guidance that fell short of what analysts expected. Adjusted earnings rose 7% to $2.39 a share, above the $2.26 estimate, and revenue rose 16% to $3.71 billion, above the $3.44 billion estimate. The company guided fourth-quarter adjusted EPS to $1.63 to $1.73, below the roughly $1.80 consensus.

Results versus expectations

The EPS beat was about 6% and the revenue beat about 8%, by our calculation. Adjusted EPS of $2.39 compares with $2.24 a year earlier. GAAP diluted EPS was $2.08, up from $1.85, and net income attributable to Crown was $225 million, up from $214 million. The Q4 range has a midpoint of $1.68, about 7% below the roughly $1.80 consensus, by our calculation. Investing.com reported the shares fell about 5% to 6% after the report, but we could not verify the move, so check live quotes.

Beverage can demand

Global beverage can shipments grew 6% in the quarter. Asia led with double-digit growth, North America rose 6% and Europe rose 4%. Volume growth is the core of the beat: it lifted sales in all three beverage segments.

Profitability: sales up, segment income down

Total segment income slipped 1% to $484 million even as sales jumped 16%. Most of the sales gain was not real volume growth: revenue included $405 million of higher material-cost pass-throughs, which are costs such as aluminum passed on to customers. Sales rose $509 million in total, so excluding the pass-through the increase was about $104 million, or roughly 3%, by our calculation. The drop in segment income came from Transit Packaging, which fell $10 million, while the three beverage segments combined were up $6 million ($414 million from $408 million).

Cash flow and capital

Adjusted free cash flow fell to $299 million from $500 million, and year-to-date free cash flow is $771 million versus $887 million. Capital spending is running higher, at $310 million for nine months versus $181 million. Crown has repurchased nearly 6% of its shares over the past twelve months.

Guidance

For the fourth quarter, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Clothier said Crown expects adjusted EPS of $1.63 to $1.73. For the full year, the company guided adjusted EPS to $8.35 to $8.45, with at least $950 million of adjusted free cash flow and about $550 million of capital spending. Full-year guidance is in line with the $8.41 estimate, but it implies a weaker fourth quarter: with $6.72 of adjusted EPS already earned over nine months, the range leaves $1.63 to $1.73 for the final three months, by our calculation. CEO Timothy Donahue said the company “performed well during the third quarter, continuing its pace for another exceptional year in 2026.” Material costs are part of the story: see our report on September producer prices and our Steel Dynamics earnings for another metals read.