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Ball Corporation (BLL) Q1 Earnings: Disappointment in Store?

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Ball Corporation is scheduled to report first-quarter 2017 results on May 4, before the opening bell.

Last quarter, Ball Corporation surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.16%. The company beat estimates in three of the past four quarters, with an average negative earnings surprise of 0.73%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Ball Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

 

Ball Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Ball Corporation Quote

Factors to Consider

Ball Corporation expects overall can demand to remain relatively flat in 2017. Further, prolonged weakness at the end-market level for carbonated drinks, beer and food are likely to affect the company’s performance.

Though Ball Corporation’s integration and transformation plans are anticipated to drive growth, escalating expenses and persistent weakness at the end-market level for carbonated drinks, beer, and food remain headwinds. Moreover, the dismal European economy is likely to hurt the company’s growth.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Ball Corporation will beat on earnings this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Ball Corporation has an Earning ESP of +1.45%. This is because the Most Accurate estimate is pegged at 70 cents per share, which is above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Ball Corporation carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions..

Share Price Performance

Ball Corporation outperformed the Zacks categorized Containers- Metal/ Glass industry over the past three months. The company’s shares gained around 4.9% compared with 2.9% growth recorded by the industry.



Stocks That Warrant a Look

Here are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

TopBuild Corp. (BLD - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +5.26% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

AerCap Holdings N.V. (AER - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.13% and a Zacks Rank #3.

American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.73% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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