Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Revisiting Louisiana-Pacific After A Sharp Correction In OSB Prices

I’d previously written in reference to Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) that I regarded a decline in OSB pricing as a “when, not if” scenario, but I can’t say I was expecting the price to fall roughly 60% from its peak in only about six months. Between new capacity coming online and disappointing momentum in residential construction, though, the operating outlook has deteriorated sharply and taken the share price of LP, Weyerhaeuser (WY), and Norbord (OSB) with it.

Prices went too high in the good times and I believe they’ve overcorrected, but there are a lot of moving parts to the Louisiana-Pacific story, and volatility is likely to remain above-average. I believe the shares are trading too cheaply now on the basis of “full cycle” EBITDA and long-term discounted cash flow, and I believe the market is undervaluing the long-term potential of the siding business, but the undervaluation I see here comes with the asterisk that near-term conditions (and the share price) could still get worse before they get better.

Read more here:
Revisiting Louisiana-Pacific After A Sharp Correction In OSB Prices

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