Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Is Louisiana-Pacific a good investment? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

Louisiana-Pacific Corp., $15.74, symbol LPX on New York (Shares outstanding: 139.4 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; www.lpcorp.com), is one of North America’s leading makers of building products, including oriented strand board (OSB), siding, engineered wood products (EWP) and other composite wood materials. Louisiana-Pacific’s stock is down from its high of $22.55 in March 2012, but it’s still up 61% over the last year. That mostly reflects an ongoing recovery in U.S. housing starts. In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Louisiana-Pacific’s revenue rose 48.7%, to $537.5 million from $361.5 million a year earlier. It earned $0.41 a share in the latest quarter, compared to a loss of $0.08. Louisiana-Pacific holds cash of $560.5 million, or $4.02 a share. Its $782.2 million of long-term debt is a reasonable 37.2% of its $2.1-billion market cap. The pace of the housing recovery is uncertain, but the trend appears to be upward. Even though some mortgage rates have risen lately, they are still near…