Business / Technology

Earnings |

Weyerhaeuser stock climbed sharply Friday after the Federal Way lumber producer and homebuilder reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as earnings from home-and-lot sales rose.

Weyerhaeuser stock closed up $1.16, or 5.8 percent, at $21.30. The shares of the real-estate investment trust have risen 14 percent this year.

Pretax earnings from Weyerhaeuser's real-estate division increased to $41 million from a year-earlier $13 million, buoyed by sales of land and residential lots, the company said in a statement.

In the fourth quarter, "home closings increased 15 percent to 582 single-family homes," compared with the third quarter, the company said. "Average margins on homes closed improved due to mix."

Weyerhaeuser has fired workers, shut down wood-product mills and sold off land for residential development to help the company weather a protracted slump in demand for new homes in the U.S. that was exacerbated by the global economic downturn.

The company's fourth-quarter profit fell to $65 million, or 12 cents a share, from $171 million, or 32 cents, in the fourth quarter of 2010, when Weyerhaeuser's results included a $119 million after-tax gain.

Profit excluding one-time items such as costs for restructuring and plant closures was 14 cents in the latest quarter, beating the 6.4 cents average of 10 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg News

Fourth-quarter revenue fell 3 percent to $1.62 billion from $1.66 billion in the last three months of 2010 when results also included $148 million from discontinued items. Analysts expected revenue of $1.6 billion.

The pretax loss at its wood-products unit in the quarter was $80 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $188 million.

"Excluding special items, Weyerhaeuser anticipates a smaller loss from the wood-products segment in the first quarter," compared with the fourth quarter, the company said.

Weyerhaeuser said it also expects "slightly higher selling prices for lumber and oriented strand board and increased sales volumes across all product lines."

The company employs about 12,800 people in 11 countries and operates timberlands, wood products, cellulose fibers and real estate businesses.

For the full year, Weyerhaeuser earned $331 million, or 61 cents a share, on $6.2 billion in revenue from continuing operations.

Information from The Associated Press

is included in this report.