Feb 1 (Reuters) - Ball Corp, missed fourth-quarter revenue estimates on Thursday, hit by a drop in demand for its beverage cans as customers tightened their purse strings. The beer can maker saw weaker volumes in North America, especially in the mass beer segment, facing challenges beyond the impact of the Anheuser-Busch ad boycott issue.

However, Ball also benefited from the cost-reduction initiatives aimed at enhancing operational efficiencies as well as from moderating input, freight and warehousing costs. North America beverage cans quarterly volumes were down 3.7%. Fourth-quarter sales declined about 4% to $3.40 billion, falling short of estimates of $3.58 billion, as per LSEG data.

However, lower aluminum costs and cost-cutting initiatives helped the company to earn a profit of 78 cents per share, topping expectations of 74 cents. (Reporting by Annett Mary Manoj in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)