Earlier this month, Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) announced the commencement of a cash tender offer to purchase up to $500 million principal amount of its 6.750% notes due in March 15, 2012.
 
Weyerhaeuser is offering to purchase for cash up to $500 million principal amount of its outstanding 6.750% Notes due March 15, 2012 from each registered holder of Securities pursuant to the terms and conditions set forth in an Offer to Purchase dated November 10, 2009. The Offer will expire on December 9, 2009. The deadline for Holders to validly withdraw tenders of Securities is November 24, 2009, unless extended.
 
Weyerhaeuser Company is one of the world’s largest forest products companies with sales of $8 billion in 2008. It has offices or operations in 10 countries, with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction and development. Major competitors include International Paper Co. (IP) and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (LPX).
 
The company has started long-term improvements in the cost structure and significantly reducing SG&A, adjusting headcount across the company and making long-term structural changes in overall employment costs. During the third quarter of 2009, Weyerhaeuser also continued to take steps to improve its financial position to assure the ability to deal with uncertain market recovery as well as to maintain future financial flexibility.
 
With all of this progress, the company is in a better position than last year and this will help it emerge a fundamentally different company and put it in a much more competitive situation.
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This analysis is from Romeo Dator, co-manager of the China Region Fund (USCOX). A year ago, nobody thought China could manage 8 percent GDP growth in 2009. With year-to-date growth coming in at 7.7 percent through the first three quarters and getting stronger, China is poised to break that 8 percent mark rather easily. The success of the stimulus and the lofty economic numbers China has managed to produce amidst a global crisis has led many to claim China is the next great bubble. We see five reasons China is not a bubble and believe that its prospects remain strong for at least the next 20 years. 1) Consumption Continues to be Strong China is transitioning to a consumption-based workforce. Retail sales rose 16.2 percent in nominal terms during October and have been accelerating. The retail sales figure isnrsquo;t a perfect proxy, but it is the best available indicator of overall consumption because it does include sales to consumers and not just purchases made by the government. We also saw strong growth in industrial production (IP) and power generation both were up more than 16 percent on a year-over-year basis in October. Housing starts were up more than 50 percent (yoy) for the second straight month. 2) Structural Changes to Domestic Economy Wersquo;re seeing a transition to a service-related economy. The service industry is the fastest-growing sector (roughly 20 percent faster than construction) and now accounts for one-third of Chinarsquo;s workforce. In general, the size of the service sector is directly correlated to the amount of goods and services an economy consumes. This is why the government has spent such a large amount of the stimulus on areas that benefit the domestic marketmdash;thatrsquo;s where it thinks the economy is headed. 3) Stimulus Exit Strategy in Place Chinarsquo;s stimulus exit strategy is simple--create a strong economic base that the private sector can launch from. After private investment surpassed that of state-owned enterprises in September, the two flip-flopped during October. Given the environment, month-to-month fluctuations like this are to be expected since private investment is dependent on how willing Chinese citizens are to put their own money at risk. Even though Beijing is determined to wean Chinarsquo;s economy off of government stimulus, the government will not hesitate to ramp up activity should the private investors become risk-averse. 4) Government Controls on Flow of Money After lending more money over the first five months of 2009 than all of 2008, wersquo;ve seen loan numbers come down.nbsp; Therersquo;s a longstanding pattern of new loans slowing down during the second part of the year as banks have historically rushed to meet government-mandated loan quotas. The magnitude of this yearrsquo;s slowdownmdash;trillions of yuanmdash;is evident of Beijingrsquo;s dedication to prevent a bubble from forming. Once the figures grew too large, the government moved quickly to hit the brakes. While U.S. regulators have many holes to plug in order to keep the economy afloat, the limited number of investment options available to Chinese citizensmdash;basically stocks, bank savings and propertymdash;makes it easier for the government to institute controls. This is what happened in 2007 when the government forced a slowdown in the housing market before it overheated. After its economy grew 12.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007, China took more aggressive actions to cool its economic growth.nbsp; The government raised lending rates and also raised reserve requirements to shrink the pool of money available for lending. 5) Chinarsquo;s Long-Term Goals Match Up With Short-Term Goals In the U.S., the Federal Reserve and policymakers are faced with conflicting goals. They need people to spend in order to get the economy rolling again, but their end game is to have the American people spend less and save more. Itrsquo;s the opposite for China. The problem in China is excess savings and not enough spending.nbsp; The short-term and long-term challenges are the samemdash;to get people to spend more. Recent signals that China will begin letting the yuan appreciate against the U.S. dollar are not new. For several years, Beijing has stated a gradual appreciation of the yuan will benefit the economy, and CLSA expects Beijing to resume a 5 to 7 percent annualized appreciation process about midway through 2010. Rapid economic growth may be common in emerging economies, but therersquo;s only one China. Already the worldrsquo;s third-largest economy on a nominal GDP basis and second-largest based on purchasing power parity, the Chinese arenrsquo;t making a break from the back of the packmdash;theyrsquo;re leading it. Domestic consumption, the rise of the service sector and increased private investment wonrsquo;t make China immune to economic bubbles, but these strengths will provide some protection from external forces. Please consider carefully a fundrsquo;s investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. For this and other important information, obtain a fund prospectus by visiting www.usfunds.com or by calling 1-800-US-FUNDS (1-800-873-8637). Read it carefully before investing. Distributed by U.S. Global Brokerage, Inc. All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor. Foreign and emerging market investing involves special risks such as currency fluctuation and less public disclosure, as well as economic and political risk. By investing in a specific geographic region, a regional fundrsquo;s returns and share price may be more volatile than those of a less concentrated portfolio. #09-803

Investors watch earnings filings with particular interest, as changes in a company’s ratios can be a good indication whether a company is on the right track, or headed the wrong way.   Cenveo Inc. (CVO) is scheduled to release its earnings results Thursday. The company currently has an earnings per share ratio (EPS trailing twelve months) of -5.89 and investors are hoping to see that number change. Let’s take a look at the performance of the stock since its previous earnings release.   {loadposition link_newslink1}     {loadposition livevideopromo}       {loadposition homeaccordion2}   {loadposition contentad}       In the past three months, the stock has posted a 83.50% gain in terms of stock price. Over the same period, the Paper & Paper Products industry group has returned a combined 16.90% gain.   So the eyes of investors turn to this new round of earnings.   Now, good earnings don’t always lead to higher stock prices, but keeping up on earnings is still a vital part of your fundamental stock analysis. Also note that companies often change earnings dates, so you should double-check them often.   When looking at earnings, it’s very helpful to see how stocks compare to others in its industry group. And even though two stocks may not be direct competitors, many analysts and institutional investors still compare them and evaluate them relative to other stocks in their group.     CVO is in the Paper & Paper Products industry group where it competes for investor dollars with companies like Buckeye Technologies Inc. (BKI), which released its earnings on 11/03 and last reported a 340.42% gain in quarter-over-quarter EPS.   Another industry peer, Boise, Inc. (BZ) released its earnings on 11/03 and last reported a 922.98% gain in QOQ EPS.   International Paper Co. (IP) is the stock with the biggest market cap in the Paper & Paper Products industry at $10.78B. It closed yesterday at $24.91   To better understand how to evaluate earnings announcements and the affect they have on your portfolio, be sure to read Earnings Announcements and EPS.   {loadposition link_nowtime} {loadposition followus}

Cincinnati Bell (CBB) announced third quarter results with adjusted earnings per share of 11 cents, falling short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. However, this was above the year-ago EPS of 10 cents.
 
Adjusted EPS excludes special items such as restructuring charges, loss on disposal of assets and gain on extinguishment of debt. Net income increased 4% year over year to $28 million while revenue fell 3% from the prior-year quarter to $338 million as a result of the declines across wireline and wireless segments.
 
Wireline Segment
 
The company reported wireline revenues of $191 million down 5% from the year-ago quarter. Lower voice revenues (down 14% year over year to $83 million) and long-distance revenues (down 3% to $24 million) were partially offset by an increase in revenues from data services (up 2% to $70 million).
 
At the end of the quarter, total local access lines reached 737,800 (down 6.8% year over year), including 664,100 in-territory lines and 73,700 out-of-territory lines. Growth in residential and business access lines in the expansion markets continue to partially offset losses in traditional consumer access lines. The company reported a total of 234,500 DSL broadband subscribers, representing a 1.5% annualized growth.
 
Cincinnati Bell remains challenged by the aggressive roll-out of Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) and long-distance services by Tier-1 carriers such as AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) in Cincinnati and Dayton and local phone services offered by cable TV operators such as Time Warner Cable (TWC).
 
Wireless Segment
 
Revenues from the wireless segment reached $78 million, down 4% over the prior-year quarter. Wireless service revenue declined 4% year over year to $72 million and equipment revenues decreased 8% to $6 million. Growth in data revenue driven by increased smartphone adoption was more than offset by lower voice revenue.
 
Approximately 6,000 new smartphone activations were registered in the quarter. Increased market adoption of these devices has been a primary catalyst behind the 23% year over year growth in data ARPU (average revenue per user), resulting in year over year improvement in postpaid ARPU.
 
The company reported a total of 536,300 wireless customers (down 5% year over year) at the end of the quarter, including total postpaid and prepaid wireless customers of 383,500 and 152,800, respectively.
 
Technology Solutions
 
Revenues for this segment registered $78 million, up 7% year over year. Telecom and IT equipment revenue increased 5% year over year to $45 million while data center and managed services revenues grew 10% to $28 million. Utilization rate of the company’s data center capacity decreased to 80% in the quarter from 88% reported a year ago.
 
Outlook
 
Cincinnati Bell reaffirmed its guidance for 2009 with revenues projected in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion. The company continues to expect adjusted EBITDA of approximately $480 million (similar to 2008 level) and free cash flow of roughly $150 million.
 
We believe Cincinnati Bell has stable long-term prospects driven by its 3G wireless service coupled with premium handset offerings that are expected to drive data revenue growth and restrict churn (customer switch) in the future reporting periods.
 
However, we remain concerned about the highly leveraged balance sheet and limited liquidity, which may affect future capital spending on data center expansion and network infrastructure deployments.
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Zacks Investment Research

International Paper Co. (IP) reported third-quarter EPS of 37 cents, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 23 cents. The better-than-expected quarterly results were driven by the company’s overhead cost reduction efforts as well as integration synergies in its industrial packing business. However, quarterly EPS declined 56.0% from 84 cents in the prior year quarter. Quarterly sales [...]

(IP) International Paper Tops Expectations