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 ...

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, ...

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

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 27, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: D.R. Horton (DHI), Ryland (RYL), Weyerhaeuser (WY), Louisiana Pacific (LPX) and Black & Decker (BDK).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

New Home Sales: Very Good News

We are now almost down to a normal months supply, which is around six months, although during the boom years it was consistently around four months. Homebuilders like D.R. Horton (DHI) and Ryland (RYL) will be able to pick up

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Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenter! More good news on the housing front: new home sales jumped 9.6% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000. In addition, June sales were revised up from 384,000 to 395,000. The jump in sales brought down inventories to 271,000 from 280,000 in June. This brought the months supply metric down to 7.5 months, a full month less than in June, and well below the 10.1 months of a year ago, when inventories stood at 419,000. That is a 35.4% year-over-year drop, far exceeding the 13.4% decline in sales from a year ago. We are now almost down to a normal months supply, which is around six months, although during the boom years it was consistently around four months. Homebuilders like D.R. Horton (DHI) and Ryland (RYL) will be able to pick up the pace of housing ...

Overvalued Timber REITs: Why Timber Investing Isn’t What It Used To Be

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist

Ten years ago, it would be hard to imagine a more stable investment than timber, or those Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) that bought millions of acres of harvestable trees.

The 1990s were an ideal period to have timber as an investment:

Housing was doing well, and growth was beginning to take off in major cities. The world was still pre-digital, and business still relied heavily on shuffling paper. Electronic news was still a novelty; magazines and newspapers were still going strong.

What a difference a decade makes…

Housing is in the dumper, with no clear sign of a resurgence on the horizon. Business has embraced the smartphone and has gone digital, shunning paper. The world is increasingly getting its news in electronic form, as evidenced by the number of newspapers that are no more.

This shift

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International Paper Co. (IP) reported second-quarter EPS of $0.20 that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.01. However, quarterly EPS declined 64.3% from $0.56 in the prior year quarter.

The better-than-expected quarterly results were driven by reduction in operating overheads as well as strong integration synergies in the industrial packing business. The company reduced total number of employees by 8,000 or by 12%, compared to the second quarter of 2008.

The company achieved approximately $120 million in merger synergies during the quarter, driven by rationalization of box plants, mix improvements in the box business, optimization of mills and logistics, and a reduction in overhead costs. The company said that it is on track to achieve around $500 million in synergies from the acquisition of Weyerhaeuser’s Packaging assets.

Also, International Paper generated strong free cash flow of approximately $1.3 billion in the quarter through margin management and strong focus on working capital. The company therefore

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Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) announced second-quarter results on Friday. The company posted a GAAP net loss of $106 million, compared to a loss of $96 million in the same period last year. Excluding certain special items, net loss came in at $125 million, or 59 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12 cents, or nearly 17%.

Weyerhaeuser, one of the largest forest-products companies in the world with operations across 10 countries, reported its fourth straight quarterly loss as it continues to reel from the effect of sluggish demand from the housing industry. However, the company feels that the sector is witnessing signs of stabilization after negotiating the worst of headwinds. The Federal Way, Washington-based company’s sales slumped 36% year over year to $1.39 billion.

Revenue from the Timberlands segment fell 7.1% year over year to $208 million, primarily on a slump in log prices and lower

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A smaller-than-expected rise in weekly jobless claims and upbeat earnings from companies helped stock markets extend their impressive run this week as investors found new reason to put money into stocks.  All stock indexes managed bigger gains as the session progressed but lost some momentum towards the end.        

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 83 points, or 0.9% and the broader S&P 500 index added 11 points, or 1.2%, to 986.75, its highest close since November 4.  The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 16 points, or 0.8%, to close at its highest level since October 1.

The much-awaited GDP report this morning demonstrated a smaller-than-expected 1% contraction, signaling the recession is losing force. Expectations were for a 1.5% drop.

Yesterday, GE (NYSE:GE) led the Dow Jones industrial average higher after the conglomerate was upgraded to “buy" from “neutral" by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). The analysts at Goldman Sachs said chances of GE

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• Ruby Tuesday (NYSE:RT) reported fourth quarter earnings of 28 cents per share, besting analysts' estimates of 19 cents, on revenues of $317.3 million, ahead of estimates of $303.95 million. The company expects fiscal 2010 earnings of 50-65 cents versus estimates of 55 cents, and sees same-store-sales declining 2.5-3.5%

• Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) reported the successful completion of a Phase 3 trial of its bone drug for the treatment of bone metastases in advanced breast cancer patients

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) upgraded Kohl's (NYSE:KSS), saying the firm is best positioned department store to show positive comparable sales in its fourth quarter

• BJs Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) received a downgrade from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) on concerns consumers may shift from bargain hunting to more discretionary retailers

• Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is planning the launch of a full operating system as it extends its Chrome browser, beginning with an introduction on netbooks in the second half of 2010.

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