Atlanta, GA, Feb. 3--Forest products company Georgia-Pacific Corp. reported a quarterly profit compared with a year-ago loss on strong results from its building materials unit.
The company said it earned $31 million, or 12 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. In the year-earlier quarter, GP lost $234 million, or 94 cents a share.
Excluding items, Georgia-Pacific reported earnings of 52 cents a share. On that basis, the average analyst estimate was 46 cents a share. Sales in the quarter rose to $5.36 billion from $5.1 billion last year.
The company's shares closed at $28.00 on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. The shares rose about 90 percent in 2003, outperforming the Standard & Poor's 500 index, which rose 26 percent.
