Louisiana-Pacific shares climb premarket as earnings miss offset by buyback, dividend hike
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. shares rose 6% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the company missed its earnings estimates but announced a higher dividend and new share buyback program. The building products maker said it had net income of $17.0 million, or 12 cents a share, in the quarter, down from $130.5 million, or 89 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 19 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 26 cents. Sales fell 17% to $589 million, also below the $612 million FactSet consensus. The company said siding segment results were hit by higher marketing investment related to its repair and remodel channel and new product introductions, as well as temporary headwinds including downtime at its SmartSide Fiber and CanExel facilities and the Dawson Creek mill conversion. “LP expects it will be more resilient and cash flow generative through market cycles going forward,” the company said in a statement. The company said its board has approved an additional share buyback program of up to $600 million and is increasing its quarterly dividend by 4% to 13.50 cents a share. For 2019, it is expecting capex to be in range of $150 million to $180 million. The company is sticking with a long-term growth target of 12% to 14% on Smart Side sales growth, but is guiding to the lower end of that range for 2019 due to expected flat housing starts. Shares have fallen 20.3% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 3.1%.
Source : MTV
