Weyerhaeuser Can Handle Housing Slump

Article Excerpt

WEYERHAEUSER CO. $26 (New York symbol WY; Conservative Growth Portfolio; Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 211.3 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; WSSF Rating: Average) is looking to lower its annual expenses by $375 million including cutting its workforce by 3%, as weak housing markets have hurt demand for its lumber. In 2008, it lost $5.57 a share (or a total of $1.2 billion) compared with a profit of $3.60 a share ($790 million) in 2007. These figures include several unusual items, such as non-cash writedowns of goodwill and its real-estate holdings. Revenue fell 25.9%, to $8 billion from $10.8 billion. To conserve cash, Weyerhaeuser has cut its quarterly dividend by 58.3%, to $0.25 a share from $0.60. The new annual rate of $1.00 yields 3.8%. The savings will help it pay down its long-term debt of $5.2 billion, which is a high 95% of its market cap. Weyerhaeuser needs a rebound in the housing market to show significant growth, but…