Rigid packaging solutions manufacturer Silgan Holdings (NYSE: SLGN) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 6.4% year on year to $1.56 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.78 per share was 4.9% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy Silgan Holdings? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

“Silgan delivered another quarter of strong results in the first quarter that were at the high end of our expected range, as our business continues to outpace the trends in the markets we serve. Our teams are focused on executing our plan for 2026 and delivering on our long term strategic growth initiatives, as our market leading innovation, differentiated customer partnership model, and operational excellence continue to set us apart in our markets,” said Adam Greenlee, President and CEO.

Company Overview

Established in 1987, Silgan Holdings (NYSE: SLGN) is a supplier of rigid packaging for consumer goods products, specializing in metal containers, closures, and plastic packaging.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term performance is an indicator of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul. Over the last five years, Silgan Holdings grew its sales at a tepid 5.1% compounded annual growth rate. This fell short of our benchmark for the industrials sector and is a rough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Silgan Holdings’s annualized revenue growth of 5.7% over the last two years aligns with its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was consistently weak.

This quarter, Silgan Holdings reported year-on-year revenue growth of 6.4%, and its $1.56 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.7%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.3% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection is underwhelming and suggests its products and services will face some demand challenges.

ONE MORE THING: The $21 AI Application Stock Wall Street Forgot. While Wall Street obsesses over who’s building AI, one company is already using it to print money. And nobody’s paying attention.

AI chip stocks trade at ridiculous valuations. This company processes a trillion consumer signals monthly using AI and trades at a third of the price. The gap won’t last. The institutions will figure it out. You need to see this first. Read the FREE Report Before They Notice.

Operating Margin

Silgan Holdings has done a decent job managing its cost base over the last five years. The company has produced an average operating margin of 9.4%, higher than the broader industrials sector.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Silgan Holdings’s operating margin decreased by 1.1 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

In Q1, Silgan Holdings generated an operating margin profit margin of 8.1%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s cost structure has recently been stable.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Silgan Holdings’s EPS grew at a weak 2.6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 5.1% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded due to non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes.

We can take a deeper look into Silgan Holdings’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Silgan Holdings’s operating margin was flat this quarter but declined by 1.1 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

For Silgan Holdings, its two-year annual EPS growth of 5.4% was higher than its five-year trend. Accelerating earnings growth is almost always an encouraging data point.

In Q1, Silgan Holdings reported adjusted EPS of $0.78, down from $0.82 in the same quarter last year. Despite falling year on year, this print beat analysts’ estimates by 4.9%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Silgan Holdings’s full-year EPS of $3.68 to grow 4%.

Key Takeaways from Silgan Holdings’s Q1 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Silgan Holdings blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its full-year EPS guidance exceeded Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its adjusted operating income missed. Zooming out, we think this was a mixed quarter. The stock remained flat at $38.78 immediately following the results.

Should you buy the stock or not? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).