In 1880, brothers Frank Ball and Edmund Ball bought a small company in Buffalo, New York, that wrapped tin cans in wooden jackets to carry kerosene, paint and varnish.
One hundred and forty-six years later, the company’s stock is doing something it has never done before.
Ball Corp. (NYSE:BALL) was up for an 11th straight session on Monday afternoon. If the gain holds into the close, it will be the longest daily winning streak in the stock’s history, based on price data going back to February 1973, the year Ball began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
No S&P 500 company currently has a longer run.
Ball Corp. Stock Is Rising While The Market Stalls
Ball traded near $64 on Monday afternoon, up about 1.3% on the day.
Since the Oct. 2 close of $56.37, the stock has gained more than 13%. Over the same stretch, the S&P 500 has slipped 0.3%.
Ball is up 20.4% in 2026, while the S&P 500 has gained 11.9%.
Table: Active Winning Streaks Among S&P 500 Stocks
| Company | Streak | Gain during streak | Last time this long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball Corp. (NYSE:BALL) | 11 days | +12.95% | Never (data since 1973) |
| Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE:APD) | 8 days | +7.98% | October 2024 |
| Marriott International Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) | 8 days | +10.02% | December 2023 |
| Linde PLC (NASDAQ:LIN) | 7 days | +4.22% | February 2026 |
| West Pharmaceutical Services Inc. (NYSE:WST) | 7 days | +6.13% | August 2026 |
Ball Corp. Is Climbing As Aluminum Gets Cheaper
Aluminum futures on COMEX, the U.S. metals exchange, fell 9.3% in the past month to $3,121.25 per metric ton. On the London Metal Exchange, aluminum is down 8.5% over the same period.
Cheaper metal does not flow straight into Ball’s profits. The company passes most aluminum costs on to beverage brands through its contracts, so earnings depend mainly on how many cans it sells.
A lower aluminum price can still help. It makes each can cheaper for drink makers, and it makes aluminum more competitive with plastic and glass.
Volume is already rising.
In the second quarter, Ball shipped 4.3% more aluminum packaging worldwide than a year earlier. Comparable earnings per share, which exclude one-off items, rose to $1.03 from 90 cents.
“Ball delivered another quarter of strong results, reflecting the consistent execution of our strategy,” Chief Executive Ron Lewis said in the Aug. 4 earnings release.
For 2026, Ball expects comparable earnings per share to grow by more than 10%. It also expects free cash flow, the cash left after investment spending, to top $900 million, and plans to return at least $800 million to shareholders.
Analysts Are Trimming Targets As The Stock Climbs
Ball holds a consensus Buy rating from 14 analysts tracked by Benzinga Analyst Ratings, with 12 Buy and two Hold calls. The average price target of $69 sits about 9% above Monday’s price.
The recent direction is lower.
Three firms cut their targets during the streak while keeping their ratings, and UBS’s new $63 target is already below the share price.
| Date | Firm | Price Target | Action | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 19, 2026 | Wells Fargo | $72 → $70 | Lowers | Overweight |
| Oct 13, 2026 | RBC Capital | $77 → $73 | Lowers | Outperform |
| Oct 5, 2026 | UBS | $66 → $63 | Lowers | Neutral |
| Sep 18, 2026 | JP Morgan | $65 | Upgrades | Neutral → Overweight |
| Aug 5, 2026 | UBS | $65 → $66 | Raises | Neutral |
| Aug 5, 2026 | Wells Fargo | $71 → $72 | Raises | Overweight |
A Record Streak, But Not A Record Price
Ball’s Relative Strength Index, a gauge of how fast a stock has moved, stands near 73. Above 70, a stock is usually considered overbought.
Even so, the stock remains about 6% below its 52-week high of $68.29 and about 38% below its all-time high of $102.76.
The next test comes from a rival.
Crown Holdings Inc. (NYSE:CCK), the other large U.S. beverage can maker, reports third-quarter results after Monday’s close. Ball follows on Nov. 3.
A streak this long shows that buyers have returned every day for more than two weeks. It does not show how long they will stay.
Photo by Jonathan Weiss via Shutterstock
