Opinions Bruce Murray
Western Forest Products Inc.WEF.TOCOMMENTJan 15, 2018
Bruce MurrayStock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 04, 2026. Market Open.
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WEF has rallied with interest rates, which help the sector, but is still down 26% for the year and 37% over 52 weeks. Note the dividend was cancelled in November 2023 and none is paid currently. This week WEF announced it would be cutting production. It is still losing money. With its losses and outlook and omitted dividend and small size we would continue to be not interested here.
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Some insider buying. Trades at 0.16x sales, about half as much as CFP or IFP. Money-losing right now. Specialty wood products, typically higher margin and more profitable. But not anymore, related to housing market being slow. Cut dividend to protect balance sheet, so company's now pretty secure.
A great turnaround stock with upside once US interest rates come down and housing activity starts to come back. He's keeping a close eye on it.
Our view remains unchanged. The only recent news was that WEF had engaged in a partnership with a First Nations group where the Group would acquire a 34% interest from WEF in a limited partnership, for $35.9M. There is nothing exciting fundementally and it has small cap risks, so we continue to view it unfavourably.
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The key factor for this company is that the US housing market is booming, housing is recovering, and housing starts are still way below where they need to be. All the forest product stocks have done very, very well. Sometime down the road there will be a settlement with the US and the tariffs will drop and the stock will pick up again.