Weyerhaeuser Narrows Loss on Cost Cuts
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (
) -- Forest products company
Weyerhaeuser
(WY) - Get Report
managed to narrow its losses in the fourth quarter amid cost-cutting and production reduction to meet demand, but still sees difficulty ahead.
Weyerhaeuser reported a net loss of $175 million, or 83 cents a share, on net sales of $1.5 billion.
Last year, Weyerhaeuser reported a fourth quarter net loss of $1.2 billion, or $5.73 a share, on net sales of $1.8 billion.
Excluding items, the company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $109 million, or 52 cents a share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 38 cents a share on revenue of $1.37 billion.
Fourth-quarter earnings from operations were lower primarily due to the company's decision to defer additional harvest, lower sales of non-strategic timberlands and higher logging, trucking and road costs.
Weyerhaeuser expects earnings from operations for the first quarter to be comparable with the fourth quarter, excluding the effect of alternative fuel mixture credits.
Weyerhaeuser said the weak housing market continues to present challenges and affect its financial performance
-- Reported by Andrea Tse in New York
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