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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Traders watch earnings releases closely, as changes in a company’s performance can be a good indication whether a company is on the right track, or headed the wrong way.   Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, Inc. (AERT) is scheduled to release its earnings results Friday. The company currently has an earnings per share ratio (EPS trailing twelve months) of - .56 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 15.38% gain in terms of stock price. Over the same period, the Lumber, Wood Production industry group has returned a combined -4.55% loss.   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.     AERT is in the Lumber, Wood Production industry group where it competes for investor dollars with companies like Patrick Industries Inc. (PATK), which released its earnings on 11/11 and last reported a -169.82% decline in quarter-over-quarter EPS.   Another industry peer, MAXXAM Inc. (MXM) released its earnings on 11/11 and last reported a 19.66% gain in QOQ EPS.   Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) is the stock with the biggest market cap in the Lumber, Wood Production industry at $8.22B. It closed yesterday at $38.90   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}

On Friday, before market opened, Weyerhaeuser Company (WY) reported discouraging results for the third quarter 2009. The company reported net sales of $1,407 million compared to $2,107 million in the year ago quarter. Excluding one time items, Weyerhaeuser reported a net loss of $56 million, or 26 cents per share versus a net loss of $3 [...]

(WY) Weyerhaeuser Company Hit by Poor U.S. Housing Market

On Friday, before market opened, Weyerhaeuser Company (WY) reported discouraging results for the third quarter 2009. 

The company reported net sales of $1,407 million compared to $2,107 million in the year ago quarter. Excluding one time items, Weyerhaeuser reported a net loss of $56 million, or 26 cents per share versus a net loss of $3 million, or 1 cent per share, in the third quarter of 2008. 

Weyerhaeuser operates through four business segment such as Timberlands, wood products, cellulose fibers and real estate. Excluding a pre-tax gain of $163 million from the sale of 140,000 acres of non-strategic timberlands in northwestern Oregon, the segment’s quarterly results decreased $10 million. 

Excluding the pre-tax items, the wood product segment’s loss in the reported quarter decreased $55 million. During the quarter, cellulose fibers segment included a pre-tax gain of $122 million related to alternative fuel mixture credits, compared to $107 million in the second quarter. Excluding the credit, the segment’s earnings improved $51 million. Excluding the pre-tax items, the real estate segment’s quarterly loss decreased $5 million. 

With three of company’s four business segments linked closely to U.S. housing starts, the recession continued to affect the financial performance. 

On the same day, Weyerhaeuser also announced its intension to build a new cellulose fibers processing plant in Gdansk, Poland. The company won a competitive tender process to purchase 100,000 square meters of land for this project. The land sale agreement is expected to be completed by 2009 and the company plans to break ground for the 17,000-square-meter facility in 2010. 

The facility will process cellulose fibers for use in hygiene products. It will employ at least 45 people upon its expected completion in 2012. The facility will be Weyerhaeuser’s first cellulose fibers manufacturing plant outside of North America. 

There was improvement across the board, but the bottom line is that earnings remain depressed and it will take a housing recovery to bring them back to the level they were at a few years ago. Thus, Weyerhaeuser forecasts weaker results in the fourth quarter from its timberlands and wood products segments, a seasonal uptick in its real estate business and comparable results from its pulp business.
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U.S. stocks rose strongly Thursday, reversing a four-session losing run, after a government report said the economy grew more than expected in the July-September quarter.  Investors shunned Treasuries and jumped back into stocks after the report signaled the economy had emerged from the worst recession since the 1930s. 

The positive surprise was enough to propel benchmark indexes to their biggest advance since July and send safe havens like Treasuries and dollar lower.  Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) advanced at least 5.1% after the Commerce Department said the economy returned to growth following four straight quarters of decline.  Crude prices jumped $2.44, or 3.1%, to $79.87 and gold was up $16.50 to $1046.40.

The S&P 500 registered its biggest one-day gain since July 23, jumping 2.2% to close at 1,066.11.  The 30-share Dow Jones industrial average shot up by 199.89 points, or 2.05%, at 9,962.58 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index 37.94 points, or 1.84%, to 2,097.55.  The advance was broad-based on the New York Stock Exchange where advancing issues ran ahead of those that declined by a five-to-one margin.  Treasuries also took a beating after an auction of seven-year notes received a weaker-than-expected response.  As the month-end nears, the DJIA has advanced 2.6% in October; the S&P500 0.9%, while the NASDAQ remains 1.2% lower for the month.

A lackadaisical third-quarter performance from Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) could not dampen the mood either and the company’s shares edged up 0.16%.  Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG), also a Dow component, reported weaker quarterly earnings but revenue was above expectations. The consumer products maker also raised the low end of its fiscal 2010 earnings forecast and its shares rose 4%.

Twenty-eight of the DJIA's 30 components finished higher while all ten industry sectors of the S&P500 rose during the day, led by advances in basic materials (+4.1%), financials (+3.9%), oil and gas (+2.4%), consumer services (+2.4%), and industrials (+2.2%). 

Among financials, MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET) jumped 7.9% to $36.84 ahead of its earnings report.  After the close, the biggest U.S. life insurer reported estimate-topping third-quarter operating earnings of 87 cents a share.  Lincoln National Corp. (NYSE:LNC) surged 14% to $25.34 after it reported first quarterly profit in a year that was also ahead of estimates.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund sharply boosted its outlook for Asian economic growth. The IMF also raised its next year's guidance.  The IMF now expects economic growth of 2.8% this year and 5.8% next, up from last May's estimates for 2009 growth of 1.2% and 2010 growth of 4.3%.

Firms reporting their earnings include: Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), Sony (NYSE:SNE), and Weyerhaeuser (NYSE:WY).

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