Stock Alert: Weyerhaeuser Loses 14%

(RTTNews) - Shares of Weyerhaeuser Company (WY), one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, are down more than 14% Friday morning.

Today, The company said in its quarterly results that it is taking measures to enhance financial flexibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including reducing Capex, lowering non-essential expenses, refinancing 2021 maturities and suspending quarterly dividend.

Looking forward, Weyerhaeuser expects second-quarter earnings to be significantly lower than first quarter. In late March, market demand for Southern sawlogs began to decrease sharply due to the severe economic impact of COVID-19. The company is planning to reduce production of its wood products.

However, first-quarter results were better-than-expected.

Net earnings in the first quarter were $150 million, or $0.20 per share compared with net loss of $289 million, or $0.39 per share in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding items, earnings of $0.18 per share beat the consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters at $0.13.

Net sales for the quarter were $1.7 billion, up from $1.6 billion in the same period last year. The consensus estimate was at $1.65 billion.

WY is currently trading at $18.68. It has traded in the range of $13.10- $31.58 in the last 52 weeks.