Wausau Paper Corporation Stock Downgraded (WPP)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wausau Paper Corporation (NYSE:WPP) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and reasonable valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and poor profit margins.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low, currently at 0.62, and is less than that of the industry average, implying that there has been a relatively successful effort in the management of debt levels. Although the company had a strong debt-to-equity ratio, its quick ratio of 0.86 is somewhat weak and could be cause for future problems.
• Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 7.5%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 3.0%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to $13.89 million or 30.23% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.
• The company's current return on equity has slightly decreased from the same quarter one year prior. This implies a minor weakness in the organization. When compared to other companies in the Paper & Forest Products industry and the overall market, WAUSAU PAPER CORP's return on equity is below that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.

Wausau Paper Corp. manufactures, converts, and sells paper and paper products in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Tissue and Paper. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.8, above the average consumer non-durables industry P/E ratio of 15.2 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Wausau has a market cap of $336.8 million and is part of the consumer goods sector and consumer non-durables industry. Shares are down 18.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

You can view the full Wausau Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

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