AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.
Same-Day
-2.09%
1 Week
-2.37%
1 Month
-2.34%
vs S&P
-5.57%
Transcript
OP
Operator
Operator
Good morning. My name is Brent and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Weyerhaeuser First Quarter 2016 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Beth Baum, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
ER
Elizabeth L. Baum - Director-Investor Relations
Management
Thank you, Brent. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Weyerhaeuser's first quarter 2016 earnings. This call is being webcast at www.weyerhaeuser.com. Our earnings release and presentation materials can also be found on our website. Please review the warning statements in our press release and on the presentation slides concerning the risks associated with forward-looking statements, as forward-looking statements will be made during this conference call. We will discuss non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of GAAP can be found in the earnings materials on our website. On the call this morning are Doyle Simons, Chief Executive Officer; and Russell Hagen, Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Doyle Simons. Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Beth, and welcome everyone. This morning, Weyerhaeuser reported first quarter net earnings of $70 million or $0.11 per diluted share on net sales of $1.8 billion. Excluding special items, we earned $150 million or $0.24 per diluted share. Our first quarter earnings included results from Plum Creek for the period February 19 through March 31. Special items for the first quarter included integration and restructuring charges related to the Plum Creek merger and a strategic review of our Cellulose Fiber business, partially offset by gain on the sale of our corporate campus. I'm extremely proud of the work of our employees in the quarter, as we closed the Plum Creek merger, delivered solid operating performance across each of our businesses, and took significant steps toward achieving the commitments that will drive long-term value for shareholders of our merged company including – we have specific plans in place to capture $100 million of hard dollar cost synergies, and I am highly confident that we will meet or exceed this run…
OP
Operator
Operator
Thank you, sir. Your first question comes from the line of Anthony Pettinari with Citi. Please go ahead.
AI
Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Analyst
Hi. Good morning.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, Anthony.
AI
Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Analyst
Plum Creek typically gave guidance on annual revenue from the Real Estate business and I was wondering if you would continue that, if you had any thoughts on sales or EBITDA contribution in 2016. And then from your comments earlier, is it safe to say you'd expect Real Estate sales to step-up in 2017 as you apply that AVO methodology to Weyerhaeuser's portfolio?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah, Anthony, as we indicated, we are right in the middle of applying the AVO process across the entire legacy Weyerhaeuser Timberland base. And as Russell mentioned, we anticipate that activity will ramp-up in the second half of 2016 and into 2017 as you mentioned. As we get a better feel for what those numbers are going to look like, we will provide guidance as we have historically on a quarterly basis to let you know what we think those will look like going forward. But we're excited about the process. We think there's lots of opportunity, and that activity, as I said, will ramp-up in the second half of 2016 and into 2017.
AI
Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Analyst
Okay. That's helpful. And then switching to lumber, prices have been much stronger than we expected year-to-date. And I was wondering if you could give us some sense of what's happening on the ground in terms of demand you're seeing at job sites, how tight inventories are. And I think typically we see a little seasonal weakness in the second quarter. And I think in your comments, you referenced continued strengthening. So, what's driving your confidence there and maybe what's different from previous years?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. So, we're encouraged by what we're seeing in lumber and the price increases that have taken place to-date, Anthony. I think the key drivers are just improvement in demand, and as I highlighted, especially in single-family housing has been a big part of it. And then the other part, and Russell mentioned this, is just the low inventory levels across the system. So, what we've seen is average prices for April, $30 above first quarter average, and current prices are $10 above the April average, so it has continued to go up. And as we said based on the low inventories, the strong demand, we are very encouraged by what we've seen on the ground in terms of lumber demand and the opportunity for pricing going forward.
AI
Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Analyst
Okay. That's helpful. And then just following up on the outlook for Wood Products, you talked about 2Q EBITDA being significantly higher than 1Q. Is there any way you can put a finer point on that or quantify that versus previous years?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Russell mentioned it, you can go back to second quarter of 2013 as kind of a comparable period. The reason – the other thing, Anthony, and the reason we laid out the price and the detail that we did, you, of course, know the leverage. But in terms of, on an annual basis, every $10 increase in lumber is $40 million on an annual basis. Every $10 increase in OSB is $30 million on an annual basis. I should mention that we talked about lumber, but OSB prices have continued to improve as well, and current prices are up another $7 versus the April average in OSB. So, we try to provide you the leverage that we have to pricing, and I'll tell you on top of that, as you saw in the first quarter results, our Wood Products business is running, operating really well. And we anticipate that's going to continue as we move through the quarter.
AI
Anthony Pettinari - Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Analyst
Okay. That's helpful. I'll turn it over.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Collin Mings with Raymond James. Please go ahead. Collin P. Mings - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: Hey. Good morning, Doyle. Good morning, Russell. Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, Collin. Collin P. Mings - Raymond James & Associates, Inc.: First question for me. Just as far as acquisition opportunities from here, Doyle, can you maybe just touch on the final terms with the Twin Creeks JV? And, obviously, we've seen a few larger Timberland deals here announced in the last few weeks. Maybe just your take on the current acquisition environment. Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. So, let me comment on the current acquisition environment and then I'll ask Russell to comment on Twin Creeks. So, in terms of the current acquisition environment, there continues to be a lot of interest in this asset class and, frankly, a lot of money chasing deals. As we've seen announced recently, there have been some deals that are happening. I would highlight on the West some transaction announced at $4,300 an acre and then in the South, of course, our Twin Creeks transaction at $2,150 an acre, and then I think I saw just last night CatchMark announced something at $2,000 an acre. So, I would tell you, as I've said, a lot of increased activity, a lot of interest in the asset class. And I would say, good values being paid for high-quality property. And, now, let me turn it over to Russell to comment on Twin Creeks. Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: So, Collin, as we announced, we closed the Twin Creeks transaction on April 1. And that was a deal that was put…
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of George Staphos from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead. John P. Babcock - Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.: Hey. Good morning, everyone. This is actually John Babcock standing in for George. Just two quick questions for you. First on the EWP markets. Demand was a little better than we expected, and just wanted to get a little bit of a sense for what you're seeing in the market and ultimately how that might trend for the rest of the year? Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yes, so we were encouraged by the demand in EWP in the quarter. I think that's primarily driven by the increase in single-family starts. As you very well know, that is by far the biggest driver of demand for EWP and with single-family starts being up 23% in the first quarter, that flowed through to our EWP business. And again, optimistic that housing is going to continue to improve, including an improvement in single-family starts, so that should bode well for EWP for the balance of the year. John P. Babcock - Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.: Okay, great. Thank you. And then secondly, just as the – with regards to the merger as a whole, as that gets under way, ultimately how do you expect that to impact the pace and trajectory of the operating improvements that you're targeting for the business? Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. So, the key there, of course, is the OpEx targets for Timberland. And as we mentioned, we have raised those targets significantly. In 2016, the original target pre-merger was $20 million to $30 million for Timberlands. We have now raised that to…
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Mark Connelly with CLSA. Please go ahead.
ML
Mark Connelly - CLSA Americas LLC
Analyst · CLSA. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Doyle, do you have much visibility into the split of export log business for the year between Japan and China? You talked about seasonality, so I'm kind of hoping you can give some sense of what you think the whole year might look like?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I would think the whole year, Mark, will be in line with kind of what we've seen historically. But let me give you just a little bit of color on what we're seeing in each of those markets currently. And then if that doesn't answer your question, we'll come back to it. But in terms of Japan, as we talked about, volume and pricing were both up in the first quarter. We think – and a little bit of that was pull forward for people being ready for an anticipated run up before the consumption tax increase. In the second quarter we think demand, because it was elevated in the first quarter, will be down a little bit in the second quarter and price will be down, flat to down slightly. China, encouraged about what's happening there. As you know, the inventories didn't build like they have over the last couple of years in the first quarter, so we anticipate both demand and pricing will be up in the second quarter. And then domestic, as we said, good demand, probably a little bit slightly lower prices in the second quarter. So, as you know in the slides, we break out the percentage of Japan versus China and Korea, and we wouldn't see any significant changes there as we move forward, although in the second quarter, we will anticipate as I just highlighted, China being a larger component. And maybe that continues for the balance of the year if China continues to accelerate in terms of demand like we've seen in the first and going into the second quarter.
ML
Mark Connelly - CLSA Americas LLC
Analyst · CLSA. Please go ahead.
Super. That's really helpful. Can I ask just one more question? Can you remind us how much of your OSB is currently going into your EWP business?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Mark, we're going to get back with you with that exact number. It's a small part of it, but I just don't know that number exactly off the top of my head, but we'll get back with you.
Your next question comes from the line of Mark Weintraub with Buckingham Research. Please go ahead.
MI
Mark A. Weintraub - The Buckingham Research Group, Inc.
Analyst · Buckingham Research. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Just a couple follow-ups first. On the – just want to make sure I understand, so the cost synergy is the $100 million. Where will that be showing up? Will that be presumably in the various segments as well, primarily in Timberlands? But that is separate from the operational synergies? And I think you talked about being $130 million over a couple years. Is that correct?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: That is correct, Mark. It will show up in various places, but it'll show up in the segment and then we'll lay out a way for you to track it exactly. But more importantly than that, to your second point, yes, the additional OpEx amount that we've identified for Timberland is above and beyond the hard dollar cost synergies.
MI
Mark A. Weintraub - The Buckingham Research Group, Inc.
Analyst · Buckingham Research. Please go ahead.
Okay.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Completely different bucket.
MI
Mark A. Weintraub - The Buckingham Research Group, Inc.
Analyst · Buckingham Research. Please go ahead.
Okay. And then a second quick follow-up, also you'd mentioned 15% to 20% from real estate sales. Was that a reference to EBITDA? And are we talking kind of $300 million to $350 million or so expectations coming from real estate from an EBITDA perspective? Is that how we should think about that? Or was that a different reference?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: No. It was an EBITDA reference. And again, once this – we ramp-up, just general guidelines, 15% to 20% of overall EBITDA for the company would come – we would anticipate would come from the real estate business. Now, like I said, a lot of work to do and identify all of those opportunities, but just to give – we wanted to give some guidance of what we thought that number could be on a go-forward basis.
MI
Mark A. Weintraub - The Buckingham Research Group, Inc.
Analyst · Buckingham Research. Please go ahead.
Okay, and then lastly, just understand kind of the expected pace on the share repurchase. I think you had indicated previously that you anticipated about $2 billion of the $2.5 billion would be done quite quickly – forget the exact terminology. Now, would you be just continuing to draw down on the term loan to execute on that, and then you pay all of that back when the pulp business gets sold? Is that how to think of it?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yeah. So, Mark, you're exactly right. What we said is $2 billion of the $2.5 billion we would do on an accelerated basis. And I think we've shown that that's exactly what we're doing. Once that's completed, we'll kind of pause and reevaluate the timing on the additional $500 million. You're right, we'll draw down on the term loan and we will use the asset sales and whatever else; but asset sales in Twin Creeks, whatever, to pay down that debt – that short-term debt.
MI
Mark A. Weintraub - The Buckingham Research Group, Inc.
Analyst · Buckingham Research. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Steve Chercover with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.
Steven Pierre Chercover - D. A. Davidson & Co.: Thanks. Good morning, everyone. This might seem kind of silly to just focus on a small part of your portfolio, but with 320,000 acres in Uruguay, you only had $1 million in EBITDA? So is there something about the accounting that keeps the cash or the contribution in South America?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: No, there's nothing that would keep cash in any given place, Steve. So, as we've said, as part of this, we're going to be evaluating our 13.2 million acres of Timberland and making decisions as to what we want the long-term portfolio to look like; with 13.2 million acres and no big tax in place, we have lots of flexibility.
Steven Pierre Chercover - D. A. Davidson & Co.: Yeah. I mean, I don't know how much managerial bandwidth it takes, but it's not a big contribution. And then switching gears, I assume that NORPAC and the Longview mill will also be sold. I'm just wondering, does that have any implications for your export terminal at the Port of Longview?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: No. That has no implications for that.
Steven Pierre Chercover - D. A. Davidson & Co.: Okay, thanks. And one other quick clarification – maybe I need a hearing aid. I think Russell referenced Q2 2013, and you referenced Q2 2014 when you were talking about the Wood Products run rate?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: If I said Q2 2014 that was a mistake. The reference was to Q2 2013.
Steven Pierre Chercover - D. A. Davidson & Co.: Great. It was a better quarter. Thank you.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you.
OP
Operator
Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Chip Dillon with Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you; and I know you guys have been working hard the last few months. Good morning.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, Chip.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
First question has to do – thank you – is with the pension income. I know – should that continue to be at the higher level that we saw in the first quarter at roughly, I think, it was $9 million per quarter for the whole year?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Yeah. I think on the pension income we're expecting a little improvement in 2016.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
And so at the same – should it be similar in the second, third, and fourth to the amount you showed on unallocated items in the first quarter?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Yeah. That would be our expectation.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Okay. Okay, that's helpful. And then on the depletion side, I know you said something about $90 million. When I look at the first quarter of 2016 versus 2015, it was up about $37 million. Are you saying it should be up year-over-year therefore by – are you saying depletion should be up $90 million or EBITDA should be up $90 million from – which is probably saying the same thing, since EBIT is going to be flat. But I just want to make sure I had that progression right for Timberlands?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Yeah. So the depletion and amortization for the second quarter will be $90 million and that's a fair number to use through third and fourth quarter also.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Okay. And then how about the depletion for the real estate segment in the second quarter?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: You can probably look at what the first quarter was like as a pretty good guide.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Okay. Even though your real estate sales will pick up a little bit?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Second quarter they will probably be similar to first quarter, and then pick up in the second half of the year.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Okay, got you. And then next question has to do with the – I think Doyle mentioned the real estate sales would be ramping to eventually around a $350 million EBITDA level sort of a target out there. Should we see that – is 2018 a realistic year that you think you'll get there, or is that pushing it too soon?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I think that's pushing it to too fine a point, Chip. Again, we're right in the middle of the AVO process. Again, what we wanted to do is just give some guidance as to the potential magnitude of the real estate business at 15% to 20% of the overall EBITDA for the company. We're going to learn a lot more as we go through this process. So, we'll be further refining that in terms of the timing as we move forward.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Okay. And last quick one, the business you just announced you sold to IP, is that going to be reported as a normal segment until it's sold or are you going to split it out as a discontinued operations, or have you figured that out yet?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: The pulp business will be asset held for sale, so it would be a discontinued operation starting in second quarter.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Oh, okay, important. And so when you give us adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EPS, you will not include the income from that business?
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Correct. You'll be able to see it in our presentation, so you can run your calculations.
CL
Clyde Alvin Dillon - Vertical Research Partners LLC
Analyst · Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.
Okay. Thank you.
Russell S. Hagen - Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President: Thank you, Chip.
OP
Operator
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, we have time for one additional question. Your final question comes from the line of Mark Wilde with BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
MM
Mark William Wilde - BMO Capital Markets
Analyst
Good morning, Doyle. Good morning, Russ.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Good morning, Mark.
MM
Mark William Wilde - BMO Capital Markets
Analyst
Yeah. Doyle, I have a couple of portfolio questions. I think one of them you've answered already, and that is just, any potential portfolio repositioning within the Timberlands, maybe concentrating more going forward on plantations in the South and in the Northwest?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Yes. As I mentioned, Mark, as part of the integration process we're going to – it's going to involve a review of the overall Timberlands portfolio. And again, as I mentioned with 13-plus million acres and no built-in gains tax we've got lots of flexibility as to how we create the most value for our shareholders going forward. So, that work is ongoing.
MM
Mark William Wilde - BMO Capital Markets
Analyst
Okay, and is it fair to say that the focus is going to be kind of plantation forestry, Doyle?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I don't want to exclude anything at this point, Mark. Let us do the work and figure out exactly what we want the portfolio to look like as we move forward.
MM
Mark William Wilde - BMO Capital Markets
Analyst
Okay. And then the second one I had is just kind of on capital allocation going forward, particularly thinking about what your business investment focus is going to be. You're selling the Cellulose Fibers business. That was clearly a forestry-related business that had a good cash return. And if I look over at kind of Plum, historically, they had invested in a limited scale in things like gravel pit participations, which looked like they were lower return businesses and not forestry-related. So, if we think kind of going forward, are there any bounds you would want us to kind of think about in terms of where you'll put capital and where you won't put capital?
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Well, Mark, as you know, we've done a lot of work here at Weyerhaeuser over the past few years to really focus our company. And as we say in where we're headed, we're going to the premier timberland and forest products company going forward. So, I wouldn't – I think, as you see us, first and foremost, we're going to focus on delivering the value from the Plum Creek merger. As we look to invest going forward, Mark, I would tell you, it's going to be focused on those areas. We do not anticipate moving into other areas – or non-forest-related areas in any significant way.
MM
Mark William Wilde - BMO Capital Markets
Analyst
Okay. That's helpful. Good luck in the second quarter and through the balance of the year.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: Thank you, Mark.
OP
Operator
Operator
Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call...
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I'm sorry. Go ahead.
OP
Operator
Operator
I'm sorry. Please go ahead.
Doyle R. Simons - President, Chief Executive Officer & Director: I was just going to say, as I understand it, that was our final question. I want to thank everyone for joining this morning. Thank you for your interest in Weyerhaeuser and we look forward to continuing to report out our progress as we move forward. Everybody, have a good day.
OP
Operator
Operator
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.