CluenexCrown Holdings CCK
Crown Holdings scores weak on business quality (4.4 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Crown Holdings does
Crown Holdings manufactures rigid metal packaging products, primarily aluminum cans for beverages and food, selling to consumer goods giants. The company is expanding its geographic footprint by building its first can plant in India to capture emerging market volume.
- What it does best
Crown dominates beverage can manufacturing with a gross margin of 21.0% outperforming peer Ball at 18.6%. This edge stems from entrenched customer relationships and massive global production scale.
- The main risk
Heavy reliance on debt remains a primary vulnerability, with total debt of $6.0 billion and interest coverage at 4.2x leaving the bottom line sensitive to borrowing costs.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 12.6% alongside a robust ROE of 26.6%, indicating solid returns on equity despite heavy capital intensity.
Crown holds a middle of the pack operating margin rank at the 51st percentile, supported by high customer switching costs in regional metal packaging.
Revenue grew at 4.8% over the latest period, showing a steady recovery compared to the contraction seen in 2022 and 2023.
Total debt sits at $6.0 billion against $764 million of cash, while free cash flow reached $1.2 billion: a stark improvement from negative flows in 2022, though leverage remains heavy.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on CCK
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Crown Holdings scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (4.4 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat fair, growth slow and financial health weak.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 19, 2026.
See CCK today
- Today's verdict on CCK, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Crown Holdings (CCK)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/cck/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.