Earnings Preview For Bemis Company (BMS, RIO, SON)

Bemis Company BMS is expected to publish its Q1 earnings results on Thursday, April 28, before the bells ring. Analysts are expecting Q1 earnings per share to be 26.2% higher, up to $0.53 from the previous year's level of $0.42. Bemis Company is a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of flexible packaging products and pressure-sensitive materials, selling to customers throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments: Flexible Packaging and Pressure Sensitive Materials. The flexible packaging segment manufactures a range of packaging for food, consumer goods, and industrial applications. Multilayer flexible polymer film structures and laminates are sold for food, medical, and personal care products, as well as non-food applications utilizing vacuum or modified atmosphere packaging. The pressure sensitive materials segment manufactures pressure sensitive adhesive coated paper and film substrates sold into label, graphic, and technical markets. On March 1, 2010, Bemis acquired the Food Americas operations of Alcan Packaging, a business unit of Rio Tinto RIO. On July 13, 2010, the company sold a portion of the Food Americas business to Exopack Holding Corporation. It currently employs more than 20,000 people. Sonoco Products SON registered its strongest first quarter results, delivering earnings of $0.56 per share, up 17% from $0.48 posted a year ago. Sonoco failed to beat market expectations, however, as its results have been widely predicted. Investors will be watching to see if Bemis can fulfill high expectations on Thursday, with investors potentially worried by Bemis' underperformance in the past two quarters. Analysts are expecting a strong rise in revenues this quarter. They predict Q1 revenues to reach $1.28 billion, up 25.7% from a year ago. For the whole year, revenues are expected to grow at a more modest pace of 9%, indicating a slowdown in the economic activity in the rest of the year. The earnings per share growth rate should show a similar pattern. After rising 26.2% in Q1 from a year ago, earnings per share for the whole year is expected to be 16% higher. Bemis seems to be going the opposite direction from its peers. The expected Q1 earnings growth for the industry is only 2.4%, before picking up in the rest of the year to finish 2011 with a 14.2% rise.