Sonoco Q3 2026: Goodwill Writedown and Earnings Miss Signal a Rough Stretch
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 21, 2026.
Sonoco guided full-year adjusted EPS to $5.30 to $5.50 and launched a new Profitability Performance Plan after an $829 million non-cash goodwill writedown in Consumer Packaging EMEA/APAC, with adjusted earnings missing expectations. Drought across Europe and the U.S. cut food can demand and inflation ran past management's own assumptions.
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Sonoco's adjusted earnings of $1.67 per diluted share for Q3 2026 came in missing expectations, with revenue also trailing expectations and declining year over year. A non-cash goodwill impairment charge concentrated in the Consumer Packaging EMEA/APAC segment drove a GAAP net loss for the quarter.
Drought conditions across parts of Europe and the United States cut crop yields and weighed on food can demand, one of Sonoco's core Consumer Packaging end markets, while raw material, freight, and energy costs exceeded what management had budgeted and eroded margins. CEO Howard Coker noted that teams were able to mitigate a significant portion of the impact but could not fully offset it.
Industrial Paper Packaging revenue rose 5.2% year over year, with North America URB trade ton sales rising and mill utilization holding steady. International paper can operations within Consumer Packaging also delivered double-digit volume growth on snack product demand in emerging markets, a rare bright spot in a difficult quarter.
Sonoco launched a Profitability Performance Plan aimed at further cost reduction and productivity improvement, and refined its full-year 2026 guidance to adjusted EPS of $5.30 to $5.50. The company also refinanced an $800 million term loan to extend its maturity profile and retained delayed-draw term loan capacity. Margin momentum now hinges on that plan working.
Mentioned: SON