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Can-making giant Ball reported a solid Q3 performance in core North & Central America market, with CEO Dan Fisher saying "stronger-than-expected volume performance" drove 3.5% in comparable operating earnings, tho that was partly offset by "product mix headwinds." Volume growth in mid-single-digits "was led by continued strength in energy drinks and non-alcoholic beverages" as beer and other alc categories remained soft, as reflected in 52-wk scans indicating that NA bevs grew by 4.8% while alcohol declined by 2.5%. On investor call yesterday, Fisher boasted that his co continues to pick its customers well. "We remain confident in our ability to grow volume slightly ahead of the market," he said, thanks to "our deliberate choices to align with the fastest-growing brands . . . We're winning disproportionately in the market on the backs of some very, very good strategic partners." (Among them, recall, Ball has tite partnership with Red Bull.) Also key to growth has been Ball's agility in aligning with innovative new plays, such as wave of protein plays hitting market. "There are very aggressive innovations happening now in a number of areas that would be a little bit more challenging to define, but health and wellness is certainly prominent," he said. "There's protein going into everything these days. So I think that market's untapped. But we're connected to a lot of folks that we think are going to win disproportionately moving forward, and they're going to be in cans."By the numbers, N/C Amer region scored 12.5% sales gain to $1.6 bil. Operating earnings rose 3.5% to $210 mil. That left 9-mo sales up 8.9% to $4.7 bil. Operating income for that period is up 1.3% to $613 mil.Puts & Takes: Promos, Minicans, Returnable Glass Of course, can makers prefer to see their customers grow on volume rather than price, since that means more cans, and sometimes use investor calls to lobby their customers for the promo activity that will drive volume. Fisher didn't go that far yesterday but noted approvingly that "what we see in our customers across categories, they continue to promote and lean on multipack value." As for current qtr, Oct so far is "in line with expectations," CEO said. "There were some price increases that were taken by our customers in October. They were also offset with some traditional promotional activity in terms of buy two, get one free. So the blended price is not representative of the full price that was taken on the retail shelves. And I think that somewhat insulated us."Topic of minicans came up too. They're providing an incremental boost, Fisher indicated. By now, all the big CSD players are using the 7.5-oz units, mainly to hit a price point, "which says a lot about where the end consumer is in terms of the size of their grocery basket, etc. The can works really well on small sizes, and so we're excited about the opportunity. I don't know how big it will be, but it should be an incremental lift to us, both from them and then the knock-on effect from their competitors."Then there's the matter of returnable glass bottles. While bevcos continue to shift their packaging from glass to cans, there has been a counter trend in some Latin American markets that have stepped up use of returnable glass. Any signs that trend is hitting US shores, Fisher was asked. Nope. "We haven't seen the returnable glass shift in South America, but usually that's driven from an inflationary market dynamic," he indicated.Tariffs: Not Biting Yet but Vigilance Required While Fisher cited bright outlook for Ball, "we remain vigilant in monitoring the evolving geopolitical landscape and tariff developments, and we are actively managing these dynamics to protect our business and support long-term growth." (We got a lift from Investing.com transcript in writing this story.)

Can-Maker Ball Rides Energy, Other NAs to 3.5% N Amer Growth in Q3 as Alcohol Stays Soft; Minicans, Protein-Everything Offering Incremental Lift

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