Bubble Wrap Maker Sealed Air Rises After Earnings Beat Estimates

Sealed Air Corp., the maker of Bubble Wrap, rose the most in more than four years after quarterly earnings and sales beat analysts’ estimates as the company shipped a larger volume of products.

Sealed Air gained 11 percent to $21.54 at 11:24 a.m. in New York after rising as much as 14 percent, the biggest intraday increase since November 2008 and the second-largest gain today on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

Fourth-quarter net profit excluding debt redemption costs and other one-time items was 34 cents a share, the Elmwood Park, New Jersey-based company said today in a statement. The average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg was 29 cents. Sales rose 0.8 percent to $1.98 billion, surpassing the $1.94 billion average of nine estimates. Sealed air said its volumes climbed 2.6 percent.

“We are encouraged volumes were positive across all its segments and margins improved,” Philip Ng, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. Inc. in New York who recommends buying the stock, said in a note today.

Bubble Wrap is a transparent plastic film with air pockets sealed between two layers, used to cushion fragile items in shipping.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sonja Elmquist in New York at selmquist1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net