Federal Way, WA, January 21--Weyerhaeuser reported a sharply higher profit in the fourth quarter, boosted by increased sales across all of its divisions.
In the quarter, the company earned $199 million, or $0.82 share, more than twice last year's income of $92 million, or $0.41.
Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.15 per share in the quarter.
Sales were up 14 percent to $5.89 billion from $5.15 billion a year earlier, with sales of wood products up 6 percent to $2.26 billion. Pulp and paper sales added 13 percent to $1.06 billion, containerboard and packaging rose 12 percent to $1.17 billion and timber increased 25 percent to $326 million.
For the year, Weyerhaeuser posted income of $1.28 billion, or $5.43 per share, up sharply from $277 million, or $1.30 per share, in 2003. Total revenue gained 14 percent to reach $22.67 billion last year.
Analyst were anticipating earnings of $5.07 per share on $22.32 billion in sales for the year.
Steven R. Rogel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said some of Weyerhaeuser's businesses experienced higher-than-expected costs during the quarter, partly the result of maintenance that had been delayed due to strong market demand earlier in the year. He said the company also incurred additional costs due to weather-related issues and "the downtime we took to balance orders with customer demand. As we look to the first quarter, we are concerned about the impact unusually bad weather may have on our results."
