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what it is
Sealed Air sells Bubble Wrap, Cryovac, and Diversey products for packaging, food, and cleaning.
how it gets paid
Last year Sealed Air made $5.3B in revenue. Food packaging solutions was the main engine at $3.18B, or 60% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 0.4% last year. The key number was $0.77 versus $0.19. That is a 305.26% beat.
what just happened
Sealed Air posted $0.77 a share versus $0.19 expected.
At a glance
B+ balance sheet — decent shape, but not bulletproof
40/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
14.0x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
2.0% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
9.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 54/100 — below average
What they do
Sealed Air sells Bubble Wrap, Cryovac, and Diversey products for packaging, food, and cleaning.
About 60% of revenue comes from food packaging. Switching costs (it is expensive to change suppliers) keep that business sticky. Your factory line does not like a new wrap, a new seal, and a new sanitation routine.
How they make money
$5.3B
annual revenue · their business grew -0.4% last year
Food packaging solutions
$3.18B
+0.5%
Protective packaging
$1.22B
1.0%
Cleaning and hygiene
$0.64B
+0.0%
Specialty materials
$0.27B
2.0%
The products that matter
protective and food packaging systems
Food Safety & Protective Packaging
$5.3B revenue
this stands in for the full $5.3B business because the snapshot data does not break out cleaner segment splits. That tells you the main thing: you are underwriting one packaging franchise, not a basket of unrelated growth stories.
entire business
Key numbers
$41.96
current price
That is where the stock trades before the deal closes. The gap to the $52 target is the whole game.
$5.3B
annual revenue
That is the size of the business, and it still fell 0.4% vs. prior year.
22.0%
operating margin
That margin tells you the business still makes money before interest and taxes eat a slice.
24%
target upside
The gap to $52 is enough to matter, unless the deal process changes the math.
Financial health
B+
strength
- balance sheet grade B+ — solid but not elite
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 55 / 100
- long-term debt $3.3B (35% of capital)
- net profit margin 10.1% — keeps 10 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 20% — $0.20 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B+ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in SEE 3 years ago → it's now worth $9,210.
The index would have given you $14,540.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
Sealed Air posted $0.77 a share versus $0.19 expected.
Revenue came in at $3.9B, and gross margin was 30.5%. That is a sharp beat on EPS while the company waits for the deal process.
$3.9B
revenue
$0.77
eps
30.5%
gross margin
EPS beat
The key number was $0.77 versus $0.19. That is a 305.26% beat, which buys the business time.
-
sealed air has agreed to be taken private.in november, the packaging company entered a definitive acquisition agreement with private equity firm cd&r. under the terms of the deal, see stockholders will receive $42.15 in cash for each share held, for a total valuation of $10.3 billion. the all-cash transaction earned shareholder approval in late february, and pending other regulatory and closing conditions, should be completed by mid2026.
-
upon conclusion of the buyout, see will be delisted from the new york stock exchange.
-
the company has been benefiting from restructuring efforts.
-
management rolled out the ‘‘cto2grow’’ (cost take out to grow) program in 2024.ongoing expense controls, productivity enhancements, and turnaround measures have aided operating margins over the past few quarters. meanwhile, sealed air has also focused on strengthening its manufacturing capabilities to spur efficiencies and optimizing the supply chain, which helped counter challenging operating conditions, such as tariff headwinds.
-
on its own, the company registered decent results for 2025.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the top risk is the CD&R buyout failing to close on schedule.
med
the spread is tiny because the market assumes this closes
CD&R agreed to pay $42.15 in cash. The stock trades at $41.96. That 19-cent gap is what investors are being paid for timing, regulatory, and closing risk.
If the closing slips past mid2026 or the transaction breaks, SEE stops trading like cash and starts trading like a standalone packaging company again.
med
$3.3B of long-term debt matters a lot more in a broken-deal scenario
Long-term debt equals 35% of capital. That's manageable while a buyer is lined up. It becomes a more obvious weight if the company has to keep executing alone.
Debt does not need to be catastrophic to hurt equity holders. It just needs to limit flexibility while growth is still soft.
med
the top line still looks fragile
Annual revenue slipped 0.4% last year, and the latest quarter grew just 1% from a year ago. That is stabilization, not a clean reacceleration.
If cost savings fade before volume recovers, margin support gets thinner and the low multiple stops looking like a bargain.
med
tariff and supply-chain pressure have not vanished
Management is still talking about manufacturing upgrades, efficiency work, and supply-chain optimization. That's a sign the business is improving, but it is also a sign the operating environment is not exactly effortless.
On a 10.0% net margin, you do not need much friction before a decent industrial business starts feeling average again.
At $41.96 versus a $42.15 cash offer, the obvious upside is 19 cents. The obvious downside is owning the standalone business again — with $3.3B of debt, 40/100 predictability, and only modest revenue momentum.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
closing clock
mid2026 buyout timeline
management says the CD&R deal should close by mid2026. That date matters more than any distant operating forecast.
trend
whether $5.3B revenue can stop slipping
annual sales were down 0.4%, and the latest quarter was up just 1%. You want to see stabilization turn into actual growth.
risk
the $3.3B debt load
if the deal wobbles, leverage goes from background issue to main character very quickly.
metric
quarterly margin discipline
the latest quarter ran at a 9.5% margin. That's the number to watch if cost cuts are doing the heavy lifting.
Analyst rankings
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — about a middle-of-the-pack risk profile. Not especially defensive, not wildly speculative either.
earnings predictability
40 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not treat this like a smooth, easy-to-model compounder. Expect more variance than the average steady industrial name.
valuation setup
14.0x / 12.9x
trailing p/e is 14.0x, and forward p/e is about 12.9x using the $3.25 EPS estimate. Cheap enough to matter if SEE stays public. Less relevant if cash arrives first.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 2 consecutive quarters — 166 buyers vs. 153 sellers in 4q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.1B shares. net buying for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$33
$70
$42
current price
$52
target midpoint · +24% from current · 3-5yr high: $85 (+105% · 21% ann'l return)
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