Covered, levered near the line, and unchanged for four years. Ball has paid $0.20 a quarter — $0.80 a year — since 2022, flat for four years, which is a caution under §3. FY2025 dividends of $220 million were 27.9% of $788 million of free cash flow, a pass. Leverage is the tight one: reconstructed net debt of $5,798 million is about 2.7x reconstructed EBITDA of about $2,110 million, a pass under 3x but with little room, and the reconstruction basis is stated in the check.
Key risk: Debt rose $1.32 billion in FY2025 while the dividend stood still, so any earnings slip pushes leverage over the 3x pass line before it threatens the payout itself.
Changes if: Net debt/EBITDA crosses 3x on a company-reported EBITDA, or the $0.20 rate is raised.
- ✓Cash-flow cover 27.9% of FY2025 free cash flow, pass (<60%).
- ✓Leverage About 2.7x on reconstructed EBITDA (see metric note; Ball does not tag an operating-income concept in XBRL, so EBIT was rebuilt from net earnings + tax + interest, all 10-K XBRL). Pass (<3x), closest to the line in this batch. Total debt rose to $7.01bn from $5.69bn in 2024.
- !Growth record Cash dividends paid $0.80/year in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 — flat 3+ years (caution) after rises to 2022; no cut in 10 years on the post-split series.
- ✓Trap screen Yield 1.25%, no cut, payout under 100%; not a trap pattern. Q3 2026 earnings were due Nov 3, 2026, after the research date.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.