West Fraser Timber reports Q2 EPS $1.20 vs. 42c in Q1

Reports Q2 revenue $1.71B, consensus $1.59B. “Once again our North American OSB, plywood and other engineered wood products demonstrated strong results and the value of our product diversification strategy. Q2-24 benefited from relative strength in new home construction demand that carried over from the prior quarter. Conversely, we continued to experience demand softness in our North American lumber business, particularly for SYP lumber with its greater relative exposure to repair and remodelling applications,” said CEO Sean McLaren. “Despite near-term demand uncertainty across some of our end-markets, the team at West Fraser will continue to work diligently, executing on our strategy of investing capital to modernize mills and lower costs, returning excess capital to shareholders when it is prudent to do so, and maintaining financial flexibility through a strong balance sheet. While it is difficult to see catalysts for a near-term demand recovery across our industry, we remain steadfast in our approach to navigating uncertainty. We continue to realize the financial benefits from the recent closures of some of our higher-cost lumber mills and will continue to focus on optimizing our portfolio of assets to lower costs and create a more resilient organization.”