Top 100 packaging companies in the USA: how to audit rankings, plant footprints and M&A goodwill

Relying on commercial trade-magazine lists of the top 100 packaging companies in the USA without auditing their accounting boundaries causes severe peer-group errors and wastes research time. A defensible domestic packaging screen reconciles consolidated group sales to ASC 280-10-50-41 U.S. origin packaging revenue in SEC Form 10-K filings, maps converter plants to six-digit 2022 NAICS substrate codes (3222 and 3261), verifies physical mills versus leased converting bays under Regulation S-K Item 102, and strips ASC 350 merger goodwill from invested capital.

Across five benchmark SEC packaging filers (International Paper, Amcor, Ball Corporation, Packaging Corporation of America and Sealed Air), 2025 consolidated group sales total $66,153.1 million ($66.15 billion), whereas disclosed U.S. or North American packaging sales total $38,842.9 million ($38.84 billion, or 58.72%). Exactly $27,310.2 million (41.28% of the headline sum, or a +70.31% overstatement of the domestic perimeter) comes from foreign operations ($26,417.8 million) and non-packaging paper or logistics segments ($892.4 million). Use this guide alongside our packaging company classification framework, the packaging industry research hub and the primary data sources directory to audit every row in a domestic packaging screen.

SEC 10-K segment and domestic revenue bridges across five major filers

Trade-publication rankings of the top 100 packaging companies in the USA routinely commingle five incompatible metrics inside a single revenue column:

1. Global consolidated revenue of U.S.-listed multinationals that earn roughly half of their sales in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
2. Wider regional reportable segments such as “North and Central America” or “Americas” that bundle Canadian, Mexican and South American converting plants into the domestic total.
3. Non-packaging business units such as communication paper ($615.4 million at PCA), market pulp (International Paper’s divested Global Cellulose Fibers division) or third-party rail and trucking logistics ($80.0 million at PCA).
4. Partial-year revenue from mid-year mergers paired with 100% of the acquired target’s year-end balance sheet (such as Amcor’s April 30, 2025 merger with Berry Global Group, Inc. and PCA’s September 2, 2025 acquisition of the Greif containerboard business).
5. Unaudited broker or private-equity revenue estimates for closely held roll-up converters that file no public financial statements.

Under U.S. GAAP, FASB ASC 280-10 (Segment Reporting) provides two separate footnote tables that resolve the revenue boundary for public issuers. First, the reportable segment table (ASC 280-10-50-22) isolates external customer sales by operating segment after eliminating intersegment transfers. Second, the entity-wide geographic disaggregation table (ASC 280-10-50-41) requires registrants to disclose external revenues attributed to the entity’s country of domicile (or principal country of operations) separately from all foreign countries, alongside long-lived tangible assets by country.

Applying both ASC 280 filters yields the domestic packaging revenue isolation identity:

Verified_US_Packaging_Revenue = Consolidated_Group_Revenue - Non_Packaging_Segment_Revenue - Non_US_International_Revenue - Intersegment_Eliminations

Ranking_Overstatement_Pct = ((Headline_Group_Revenue - Disclosed_US_or_NA_Packaging_Revenue) / Disclosed_US_or_NA_Packaging_Revenue) * 100

The benchmark table below reconciles 2025 SEC Form 10-K consolidated net sales to disclosed U.S. (or North American for Amcor) packaging sales across five leading U.S.-listed issuers spanning corrugated paperboard, flexible and rigid plastics, and metal beverage cans.

Notice how the domestic perimeter changes relative company scale inside a U.S. screen:

• Domestic concentration flips rank order between Ball and PCA: On a global consolidated basis, Ball Corporation ($13,161.0 million) appears 46.4% larger than Packaging Corporation of America ($8,989.3 million). Once foreign beverage can sales ($6,998.0 million in EMEA, Brazil and other countries) are removed from Ball and non-packaging UFS communication paper and logistics ($695.4 million) are removed from PCA, PCA’s domestic packaging revenue ($8,293.9 million) exceeds Ball’s U.S. origin revenue ($6,163.0 million) by $2,130.9 million (+34.6%).
• Discontinued operations and divestitures alter multi-year baselines: In International Paper’s 2025 Form 10-K (Item 1, p. 1), IP completed its acquisition of European corrugated leader DS Smith while reclassifying its Global Cellulose Fibers (fluff and market pulp) business to discontinued operations ahead of its $1.5 billion sale on January 23, 2026 ($1,800 million of assets held for sale on the December 31, 2025 balance sheet). Even within IP’s $14,439.0 million of U.S. geographic net sales (Note 21, p. 116), $965.0 million consists of export shipments, leaving $13,474.0 million of domestic U.S. destination sales.
• ASU 2023-07 exposes incompatible segment expense structures: Effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, FASB ASU 2023-07 requires registrants to disclose significant segment expense categories regularly reviewed by the Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM). In 2025 Form 10-K filings, PCA Note 19 (p. 72) disaggregates its $7,168.6 million of Packaging segment expenses (on $8,293.9 million external sales) into Variable costs ($4,007.3 million, or 48.32% of sales), Fixed costs ($1,902.4 million, or 22.94%), Freight ($843.3 million, or 10.17%) and Other segment items ($415.6 million, or 5.01%), leaving $1,125.3 million (13.57%) of GAAP segment operating income. By contrast, International Paper Note 21 (p. 113) breaks Packaging Solutions North America expenses ($14,603.0 million on $15,175.0 million total segment revenue including $188.0 million intersegment) into Cost of products sold ($10,338.0 million), SG&A ($1,293.0 million), D&A ($1,724.0 million), Distribution ($1,125.0 million) and Other ($123.0 million) for a $572.0 million (3.82% of external sales) segment profit. Meanwhile, Sealed Air Note 6 (p. 88) reports only Cost of sales ($2,496.2 million Food; $1,261.2 million Protective) to arrive at Segment Gross Profit ($1,098.5 million or 30.56% in Food; $503.9 million or 28.55% in Protective), leaving $744.9 million of SG&A, $59.5 million of intangible amortization and $39.9 million of restructuring unallocated below segment gross profit. As shown in our largest packaging companies segment breakdown, Amcor Note 21 (p. 106) and Ball Note 3 (p. 52) disclose a single consolidated segment expense line because their CODMs review only consolidated expense totals.

Rule of thumb: if an issuer’s ASC 280-10-50-41 geographic table reports only a multi-country region (such as Amcor’s $7,194.0 million North America revenue), cross-check the U.S. share of net long-lived tangible assets ($3,872.0 million U.S. net PP&E out of $8,202.0 million global net PP&E, or 47.21% at Amcor) and label the revenue line as North American rather than U.S.-only.

Takeaway: Strip foreign operations and non-packaging segments using the ASC 280 segment and geographic tables before ranking any issuer in a U.S. packaging peer group.

NAICS 3222 and 3261 substrate codes for plastic and flexible converters

Researchers screening for the largest plastic packaging companies or the top flexible packaging companies in the USA encounter a second structural boundary: the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has no unified “packaging” sector and no single code for flexible packaging. In the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Economic Census Manufacturing Summary Statistics (EC2231BASIC) and 2022 NAICS code lists, packaging converters are divided by primary material conversion process across Subsector 322 (Paper Manufacturing), Subsector 326 (Plastics and Rubber Products Manufacturing), Subsector 327 (Nonmetallic Mineral Product Manufacturing) and Subsector 332 (Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing), while packaging equipment builders sit in 333993 (Packaging Machinery Manufacturing).

Pulling 4-digit industry group totals (3222 Converted Paper Product Manufacturing or 3261 Plastics Product Manufacturing) contaminates a packaging screen because 3222 includes sanitary paper products (toilet tissue, diapers) and office stationery, while 3261 includes PVC construction pipe, plastic floor coverings, automotive trim and industrial geomembranes. A clean U.S. establishment screen must filter at the six-digit 2022 NAICS level and account for three cross-code overlaps:

1. Multi-material flexible packaging splits across three six-digit codes: In the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) industry benchmark, the U.S. flexible packaging industry represents approximately $42.9 billion in annual domestic sales across food (retail and institutional), medical/pharmaceutical, personal care, pet food and industrial applications. Because flexible pouches, barrier rollstock, shrink bags and lidding webs combine polymer resins with paper and aluminum foil, Census establishments split across 326111 (Plastics Bag and Pouch Manufacturing), 326112 (Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet [including Laminated] Manufacturing) and 322220 (Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing, which houses laminated aluminum-foil/paper flexible structures). Within the polymer film and pouch web layer, FPA material consumption is dominated by polyethylene (53% PE, including LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE sealant and shrink webs), polypropylene (29% PP, including BOPP snack webs and cast PP retort films) and polyester (6% PET, primarily BOPET print and lidding substrates), with paper, aluminum foil, polyamide (nylon) and ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) barrier resins comprising the remaining 12%.
2. Rigid plastic packaging splits between bottles (326160) and closures/thermoforming (326199): When screening the largest plastic packaging companies, NAICS 326160 (Plastics Bottle Manufacturing) captures blow-molded and injection-stretch blow-molded PET, HDPE and PP bottles and jars. However, threaded plastic closures, dispensing pumps, trigger sprayers, prescription vials and thermoformed plastic food tubs or clamshells are classified inside NAICS 326199 (All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing), while expanded polystyrene foam protective shapes sit in 326140 (Polystyrene Foam Product Manufacturing). Following Amcor’s April 30, 2025 acquisition of Berry Global (Amcor 2025 10-K, Note 4, pp. 66-67), Amcor’s $4,137.0 million Global Rigid Packaging Solutions segment and Berry’s legacy U.S. container, closure and dispensing plants span both 326160 and 326199.
3. Summing Value of Shipments (RCPTOT) across vertically linked codes double-counts raw rollstock: As documented in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) Technical Documentation, aggregating total Value of Shipments (RCPTOT) across upstream and downstream NAICS codes double-counts intermediate materials transferred between plants. When a containerboard mill in 322130 (Paperboard Mills) ships kraftliner and corrugating medium (grades analyzed in paper and packaging board grades and pricing) to a corrugated box plant in 322211, or when a film extruder in 326112 ships unprinted barrier rollstock to a stand-up pouch converter in 326111, the rollstock value is counted once at the mill/extruder and a second time inside the finished box or pouch shipment value.

To eliminate inter-plant material duplication in Census EC2231BASIC or ASM tables, evaluate Value Added (VALADD) alongside Value of Shipments (RCPTOT):

VALADD = RCPTOT - CSTMTOT + Ending_WIP_and_Finished_Inventory - Beginning_WIP_and_Finished_Inventory

Net_Conversion_Share_Pct = (VALADD / RCPTOT) * 100

Here CSTMTOT is the total cost of materials, parts, containers, fuel, purchased electricity and contract work consumed by the establishment, and Net_Conversion_Share_Pct measures the establishment’s net converting margin above purchased resin, paperboard or aluminum sheet inputs (whose price series are tracked in packaging costs and price indexes).

Also keep the statistical unit clear when comparing Census counts against company lists. As defined in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB), an establishment (ESTAB) is a single physical manufacturing location assigned one primary six-digit NAICS code based on its dominant output, whereas a firm or enterprise is the legal business organization controlling one or more domestic establishments. A single parent enterprise such as Amcor, International Paper or PCA operates dozens of individual domestic establishments across multiple six-digit NAICS codes.

Takeaway: Build U.S. plastic and flexible packaging screens from six-digit NAICS converter codes (326111, 326112, 326160, 322220) plus 326199 for closures and thermoforming, and use Census Value Added (VALADD) whenever combining upstream mills or extruders with downstream box and pouch plants.

Item 2 plant footprints and capacity audits for mills and converters

Two packaging companies reporting $3.0 billion to $8.0 billion in domestic revenue can possess entirely different physical asset quality, maintenance capital expenditure obligations (see CapEx to-revenue ratio by industry and CapEx versus OpEx), and regional customer lock-in. Under 17 CFR 229.102 (SEC Regulation S-K Item 102, Description of Property), Form 10-K Item 2. Properties (and Item 1 facility tables) requires every registrant to disclose the location and general character of materially important physical properties, identify the reportable segments that use them, and state whether facilities are held in fee (owned) or leased.

Auditing Item 2 alongside the balance sheet and lease footnotes exposes three physical operating metrics that commercial Top 100 directories omit:

Lease_Intensity_Ratio_Pct = (Operating_Lease_ROU_Assets / Net_PPE) * 100

PP&E_Depreciation_Maturity_Pct = (Accumulated_Depreciation / Gross_PPE) * 100

Domestic_Asset_Concentration_Pct = (US_Long_Lived_Tangible_Assets / Consolidated_Long_Lived_Tangible_Assets) * 100

Why do these three ratios separate upstream mill owners from light converting networks?

• Owned upstream mills versus leased near-site blow-molding and sheet plants: Integrated paperboard and metal can manufacturers own heavy continuous-process machinery (Fourdrinier paperboard machines, chemical recovery boilers, lime kilns and high-speed drawn-and-ironed aluminum can lines) that sit on fee-simple industrial land with low operating-lease ratios (4.8% to 7.5% ROU-to-Net-PP&E). By contrast, rigid plastic bottle makers frequently lease blow-molding facilities adjacent to or contiguous with customer beverage and food filling plants (“through-the-wall” or near-site operations) to avoid shipping empty plastic bottles filled with air. In Amcor’s FY2025 Form 10-K (Item 2, p. 28), approximately 45% of its 213 Global Rigid Packaging facilities are leased (with initial terms of 2 to 15 years) versus 25% leased across its 210 Global Flexible Packaging facilities, lifting Amcor’s operating lease ROU assets to $1,116.0 million (13.61% of its $8,202.0 million Net PP&E).
• Physical tonnage and corrugated shipment verification: Only physical throughput disclosures confirm whether revenue growth came from volume or price/mix (a check paired with packaging industry challenges and slowdown indicators). In PCA’s 2025 Form 10-K (Item 1, pp. 3-5; Item 2, p. 16), PCA discloses 9 U.S. containerboard mills with 5.8 million tons (358 billion square feet [BSF]) of annual capacity that produced 5,154 thousand tons (304.9 BSF) of containerboard in 2025, feeding 91 domestic corrugated manufacturing plants (56 combination corrugator plants and 35 sheet/specialty plants) that shipped 71.1 BSF of corrugated products. PCA also discloses that net purchased recycled fiber totaled 1,150,000 tons (22% of 2025 containerboard production).
• Mill closure charges and asset age: Footnote restructuring and depreciation records reveal when a high-ranking producer is retiring older U.S. capacity. In 2025, International Paper recorded closure charges across three U.S. containerboard mills: Savannah, Georgia ($125.0 million), Riceboro, Georgia ($96.0 million) and Red River, Louisiana ($84.0 million). Similarly, PCA permanently shut down the No. 2 paper machine and kraft pulping facilities at its Wallula, Washington mill in Q4 2025 ($128.0 million fourth-quarter charge within $205.0 million of total estimated restructuring costs) while adding two containerboard mills (Massillon, Ohio and Riverville, Virginia, ~800,000 tons combined capacity) and eight corrugated plants via the $1,800.5 million Greif containerboard acquisition on September 2, 2025. At Sealed Air (Note 8, p. 91), accumulated depreciation of $2,909.6 million against $4,332.7 million of gross PP&E ($3,092.8 million machinery and equipment; $911.5 million buildings) yields a 67.15% depreciation maturity ratio, signaling a mature physical asset base.

Rule of thumb: when an issuer’s operating lease ROU assets exceed 12% of Net PP&E or when more than 35% of its converting sites are leased (as in rigid plastic bottle blowing or regional sheet-feeder warehouses), check the lease maturity schedule under ASC 842 before assuming low capital expenditure requirements, and pair plant counts with types of capital expenditure.

Takeaway: Verify domestic plant counts, owned versus leased tenure, and U.S. long-lived tangible assets in Form 10-K Item 2 and the segment footnote before equating two companies with similar reported sales.

ASC 350 goodwill bloat and acquisition timing in packaging returns

Decades of roll-up mergers and private-equity consolidation across U.S. plastic, flexible, paperboard and metal packaging (Amcor + Bemis + Berry Global; International Paper + DS Smith; WestRock + Smurfit Kappa; Sealed Air + Liquibox; PCA + Boise + Greif Containerboard) have loaded packaging balance sheets with ASC 805 / ASC 350 Goodwill and definite-lived customer-relationship intangibles. When a researcher screens the largest plastic packaging companies or top flexible packaging companies in the USA using Total Assets or Book Invested Capital, failing to strip out acquisition goodwill mistakes historical M&A purchase premiums for physical manufacturing capacity.

Define the balance-sheet capital ratios explicitly before comparing asset scale or return on invested capital (ROIC) across packaging peers (building on our manufacturing company valuation framework, EBITDA valuation guide and market cap versus enterprise value):

Book_Invested_Capital = Total_Debt_and_Finance_Leases + Total_Book_Equity - Unrestricted_Cash_and_ST_Marketable_Securities

Tangible_Invested_Capital = Book_Invested_Capital - Goodwill - Identifiable_Intangible_Assets_Net

Intangible_Bloat_Share_Pct = ((Goodwill + Identifiable_Intangible_Assets_Net) / Book_Invested_Capital) * 100

Intangibles_to_Net_PPE_Ratio = (Goodwill + Identifiable_Intangible_Assets_Net) / Net_PPE

The 2025 SEC Form 10-K balance-sheet audit below ranks the same five benchmark issuers by the share of their Book Invested Capital consumed by Goodwill and Net Identifiable Intangibles (Intangible_Bloat_Share_Pct).

Three accounting findings from this table and Aswath Damodaran’s January 2026 NYU Stern U.S. Packaging & Container sector dataset (19 U.S.-listed firms) govern financial comparisons across packaging companies:

1. Plastic and flexible packaging roll-ups carry more than 2.25x as much goodwill and intangibles as physical plant and equipment: At Amcor ($18,679.0 million combined goodwill and net intangibles versus $8,202.0 million Net PP&E, or 2.28x) and Sealed Air ($3,234.1 million versus $1,423.1 million Net PP&E, or 2.27x), acquisition intangibles represent 74.68% and 65.96% of Book Invested Capital. By contrast, at mill-intensive PCA, even after adding $449.9 million of goodwill and $460.0 million of customer-relationship and trademark intangibles from the September 2, 2025 Greif containerboard acquisition ($761.6 million PP&E added), combined goodwill and intangibles ($1,974.6 million) represent only 24.77% of Book Invested Capital and 0.40x Net PP&E ($4,985.1 million).
2. Partial-year M&A consolidation breaks unadjusted asset turnover and return ratios: When Amcor closed the Berry Global merger on April 30, 2025 (two months before Amcor’s June 30, 2025 fiscal year-end; Note 4, pp. 66-67), Amcor’s closing balance sheet absorbed 100% of Berry’s assets, including $4,310.0 million of PP&E, $6,231.0 million of identifiable intangibles ($5,495.0 million customer relationships amortized over 12 years) and $5,859.0 million of goodwill ($1,657.0 million Flexibles, $4,202.0 million Rigid), pushing Total Assets to $37,066.0 million. However, Amcor’s FY2025 income statement ($15,009.0 million net sales) included only two months of Berry’s post-closing revenue ($1,591.0 million) and a -$137.0 million post-closing net loss weighed down by $133.0 million of inventory step-up amortization and $202.0 million of transaction and integration costs. Similarly, PCA’s 2025 income statement includes only four months of Greif containerboard operations (from September 2, 2025) against 100% of Greif’s closing assets. Dividing reported fiscal-year sales or NOPAT by year-end invested capital without a pro forma full-year adjustment or time-weighted denominator severely understates capital turnover and ROIC.
3. Sector-wide goodwill compression and the EV/EBITDA-to-EV/EBIT multiple wedge: In NYU Stern’s January 2026 U.S. sector tables for Packaging & Container (19 firms), cumulated Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) including goodwill is 7.69%, whereas ROIC excluding goodwill jumps to 11.17%, a +348 basis point (+45.3% relative) spread driven by historical M&A goodwill on converter balance sheets. In the same January 2026 dataset, the U.S. Packaging & Container sector trades at 9.71x positive-EBITDA EV/EBITDA and 15.78x EV/EBIT (19.92x EV/EBIT(1-t)), with a 24.27% Gross Margin, 14.36% EBITDA Margin, 9.58% Pre-tax Operating (EBIT) Margin, 89.84% CapEx/Depreciation, 5.14% Net CapEx/Sales, 1.84x Sales/Invested Capital and 12.66% Non-cash Working Capital/Sales. Notice why EV/EBIT (15.78x) is 62.5% higher than EV/EBITDA (9.71x): depreciation and amortization consume 4.78% of sales (33.3% of EBITDA), combining physical mill/press depreciation with heavy non-cash amortization of M&A customer intangibles ($246.0 million at Amcor, $148.0 million at Ball and $59.5 million at Sealed Air in 2025). At the single-company level, ASC 350-20 requires annual reporting-unit goodwill impairment testing: in 2025, International Paper recorded a $2,467.0 million ($2.47 billion) non-cash goodwill impairment charge on its Packaging Solutions EMEA segment while simultaneously adding DS Smith intangibles (pushing IP’s net intangibles from $72.0 million in 2024 to $4,043.0 million in 2025). Compare these multiples using the rules in company valuation multiples.

Takeaway: Calculate both Book ROIC (including goodwill, measuring management’s historical acquisition capital allocation) and Tangible ROIC (excluding goodwill and deal intangibles, measuring underlying plant operating economics), and never divide a partial-year M&A income statement by a 100%-consolidated closing balance sheet.

Ten-point verification checklist for domestic packaging company screens

Before admitting any candidate company into a U.S. Top 100 packaging dataset or comparing plastic, flexible, paperboard or metal container peers, run the ten-point verification checklist below and log the exact filing locators.

Copy the reusable plain-text audit record below into your research ledger to keep every company row tied to verifiable primary disclosures:

Entity & Ticker/CIK | Filing Period & Form 10-K URL | 6-Digit NAICS Codes |
Consolidated Sales ($M) | Packaging Segment External Sales ($M) |
Disclosed U.S. Origin Sales ($M) or NA Sales ($M) | ASU 2023-07 Profit & Expense Basis |
U.S. Mills & Converting Plants (Item 2) | Physical Output (Tons / BSF / Units) |
U.S. Long-Lived Assets ($M & %) | Net PP&E ($M) & ROU Lease Ratio (%) |
Book Invested Capital ($M) | Goodwill + Net Intangibles ($M & % of Book IC) |
Mid-Year M&A / Divestiture / Impairment Notes | Access Date

Methodological boundaries of public U.S. packaging data

1. Closely held private-equity converters do not file public SEC Form 10-K reports: A substantial portion of the middle-market U.S. flexible, thermoformed plastic and corrugated sheet-converting sector is owned by private equity sponsors or private family holding companies. Unless a private converter has registered public senior notes requiring SEC Form 10-K or 20-F filings, third-party revenue estimates in commercial Top 100 directories cannot be audited against ASC 280 segment notes or Item 2 plant tables. Keep private estimates in a separate unverified tier rather than mixing them into audited SEC peer averages.
2. North American regional reporting versus strict 50-state U.S. boundaries: When an issuer reports North America as its narrowest geographic revenue line (such as Amcor’s $7,194.0 million North American revenue across Flexibles and Rigid), public filings do not permit an exact split between the United States, Canada and Mexico on the revenue line, even when U.S.-only Net PP&E ($3,872.0 million at Amcor) is disclosed in the long-lived asset table.
3. Association survey paywalls and establishment disclosure suppression: While the 2022 Economic Census (EC2231BASIC) is freely accessible via the Census API, detailed state-by-state or narrow product lines are occasionally suppressed by the Census Bureau (D flags) to prevent disclosing individual company operations where a single mill or can plant dominates a state cell. Similarly, full converter benchmark tables in the Flexible Packaging Association annual report are restricted to association members or paid subscribers.

Takeaway: Record every company row with its exact SEC Form 10-K note locator, six-digit NAICS substrate code and domestic revenue boundary, and segregate unverified private-company revenue estimates from audited public disclosures.

Frequently asked questions

Why do trade lists of the top 100 packaging companies in the US disagree on rankings?

Trade-magazine lists disagree because they mix global consolidated revenue, North American regional segment sales and U.S.-only origin sales without a uniform boundary. Across five benchmark 2025 SEC Form 10-K filers (International Paper, Amcor, Ball, Packaging Corporation of America and Sealed Air), headline consolidated revenue totals $66,153.1 million, whereas disclosed U.S. or North American packaging revenue totals $38,842.9 million (58.72%). The remaining $27,310.2 million (41.28%) consists of foreign packaging operations ($26,417.8 million) and non-packaging communication paper or logistics segments ($892.4 million). On a global consolidated basis, Ball ($13,161.0 million) ranks ahead of PCA ($8,989.3 million), whereas on a verified domestic packaging basis, PCA ($8,293.9 million) ranks $2,130.9 million (+34.6%) ahead of Ball’s U.S. origin revenue ($6,163.0 million).

How do you screen the largest plastic packaging companies and top flexible packaging companies in the US?

Combine company segment disclosures in SEC Form 10-K filings with the U.S. Census Bureau’s six-digit 2022 NAICS manufacturing codes (EC2231BASIC). For flexible packaging (a $42.9 billion U.S. sector per the Flexible Packaging Association, with polymer usage split 53% PE, 29% PP and 6% PET), screen NAICS 326111 (Plastics Bag and Pouch Manufacturing), 326112 (Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet [including Laminated] Manufacturing) and 322220 (Paper Bag and Coated and Treated Paper Manufacturing, which covers foil-paper laminates). For rigid plastics, combine NAICS 326160 (Plastics Bottle Manufacturing) with packaging closure and thermoforming operations inside 326199 (All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing), and check Census Value Added (VALADD) against Value of Shipments (RCPTOT) to avoid double-counting resin film sold between extruders and pouch converters.

How does mid-year merger accounting distort packaging revenue rankings and invested capital returns?

Under U.S. GAAP (ASC 805 and ASC 350), an acquirer consolidates 100% of a target’s assets, debt, goodwill and identifiable intangibles onto its closing balance sheet on the acquisition closing date, while its income statement includes the target’s revenue and earnings only from the closing date forward. For example, Amcor closed its merger with Berry Global on April 30, 2025 (Note 4, pp. 66-67), adding $4,310.0 million of PP&E, $6,231.0 million of identifiable intangibles and $5,859.0 million of goodwill to its June 30, 2025 balance sheet ($18,679.0 million total goodwill and intangibles, or 74.68% of Amcor’s $25,011.0 million Book Invested Capital), while including only two months ($1,591.0 million) of Berry revenue in FY2025 sales. Across the 19-firm U.S. Packaging & Container sector in NYU Stern’s January 2026 dataset, M&A goodwill compresses sector ROIC from 11.17% (excluding goodwill) to 7.69% (including goodwill).

How can analysts verify a packaging company’s domestic plant count and mill capacity in Form 10-K?

Check Item 1 (Business), Item 2 (Properties, governed by 17 CFR 229.102), the ASC 842 leases footnote and the ASC 280-10-50-41 geographic long-lived assets table in Form 10-K. Item 2 separates integrated domestic mill owners such as PCA (9 U.S. containerboard mills with 5.8 million tons annual capacity producing 5,154 thousand tons in 2025, plus 91 corrugated plants shipping 71.1 BSF, with a 7.54% operating-lease ROU-to-PP&E ratio) and Ball (16 U.S. aluminum beverage can plants out of 19 in North and Central America and 63 globally) from converter networks such as Amcor (423 global facilities, where 45% of rigid blow-molding facilities are leased near filling lines and ROU assets equal 13.61% of Net PP&E).