Boise Cascade Company Reports Second Quarter 2021 Results

Boise Cascade Company (“Boise Cascade,” the “Company,” “we,” or “our”) reported net income of $302.6 million, or $7.62 per share, on sales of $2.4 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2021, compared with net income of $33.6 million, or $0.85 per share, on sales of $1.2 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020.

“Our associates in both businesses performed with focus and dedication to capitalize on the strength in residential construction, delivering exceptional results while supporting our customers and supplier partners. Additionally, as a tribute to our associates’ commitment to safety, I’m proud to report we completed one of our safest quarters on record,” stated Nate Jorgensen, CEO. “As we look to the third quarter, the downward commodity pricing trends experienced in recent weeks have created a challenging environment, and we are focused on mitigating their impact without sacrificing customer service. The strength of our current balance sheet position allows us to remain focused on executing our strategy, including future organic and acquisition growth opportunities.”

Second Quarter 2021 Highlights

As both a manufacturer and a distributor, our second quarter 2021 financial results were favorably impacted by higher commodity wood products pricing compared to pricing in the same period last year, driven by continued robust construction activity during second quarter 2021. While not subject to the significant price fluctuations of commodity products, demand also exceeded supply for many of the general line and engineered wood products (“EWP”) distributed by Building Materials Distribution (“BMD”). Lumber pricing peaked in May 2021, then dropped sharply driven by declining repair and remodel and “do-it-yourself” activity, causing hesitancy in the marketplace because of expectations for potential price erosion. With COVID-19 vaccines and easing pandemic restrictions, people are spending less time at home on home improvement projects, resulting in reduced demand from our home center customers.

In the second quarter 2021, total U.S. housing starts increased 43% compared to the same period in 2020. Single-family housing starts, the primary driver of our sales volumes, also increased 42%. On a year-to-date basis through June 2021, total and single-family housing starts increased 25% and 30%, respectively, compared with the same period in 2020.

Wood Products

Wood Products’ sales, including sales to BMD, increased $313.1 million, or 111%, to $594.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, from $281.5 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020. The increase in sales was driven primarily by higher plywood prices, as plywood demand in the second quarter outpaced industry production levels, driving the favorable pricing. Higher sales volumes and net sales prices for I-joists and LVL (collectively referred to as EWP) also increased compared to the prior period. In addition, improved lumber sales prices and plywood sales volumes contributed to the increase in sales.

Wood Products’ segment income increased $196.7 million to $213.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, from $17.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020. The increase in segment income was due primarily to higher plywood, EWP, and lumber sales prices, as well as higher EWP sales volumes. These improvements were offset partially by higher wood fiber costs, as well as increased selling and distribution expenses of $1.3 million.

Building Materials Distribution

BMD’s sales increased $1,038.5 million, or 92%, to $2,172.7 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, from $1,134.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2020. Compared with the same quarter in the prior year, the overall increase in sales was driven by sales price and volume increases of 83% and 9%, respectively. By product line, commodity sales increased 167%, general line product sales increased 26%, and sales of EWP (substantially all of which is sourced through our Wood Products segment) increased 52%.

BMD segment income increased $163.1 million to $206.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, from $43.2 million in the comparative prior year quarter. The improvement in segment income was driven by a gross margin increase of $187.9 million, resulting from improved sales volumes and gross margins on substantially all product lines, particularly commodity products, compared with second quarter 2020. The margin improvement was offset partially by increased selling and distribution expenses of $25.9 million.

Unallocated Corporate Costs

Unallocated corporate expenses increased $1.8 million to $10.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, from $8.5 million for the same period in the prior year. As part of our self-insured risk retention program, corporate absorbed approximately $3.4 million of estimated insurance losses resulting from a fire at our BMD Phoenix location. These losses were offset partially by lower incentive compensation driven by the departure of an officer and related forfeiture of accrued incentive compensation.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

Boise Cascade ended second quarter 2021 with $653.8 million of cash and cash equivalents and $345.3 million of undrawn committed bank line availability, for total available liquidity of $999.1 million. The Company had $444.2 million of outstanding debt at June 30, 2021.

We expect capital expenditures in 2021 to total approximately $90 million to $100 million. Included in our capital spending range is the completion of a log utilization center project at our Florien plywood and veneer plant, a new door assembly operation in Houston, and expansion of our distribution capabilities in the Nashville market. This level of capital expenditures could increase or decrease as a result of a number of factors, including acquisitions, efforts to accelerate organic growth, exercise of lease purchase options, our financial results, future economic conditions, availability of engineering and construction resources, and timing and availability of equipment purchases.

Dividends

On June 28, 2021, our board of directors declared a supplemental dividend of $2.00 per share on our common stock, payable on July 30, 2021, to stockholders of record on July 15, 2021. At June 30, 2021, we accrued $78.7 million in “Dividends payable” on our Consolidated Balance Sheets, representing our supplemental dividend declaration. On July 29, 2021, our board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share on our common stock, payable on September 15, 2021, to stockholders of record on September 1, 2021.

Future dividend declarations, including amount per share, record date and payment date, will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend upon, among other things, legal capital requirements and surplus, our future operations and earnings, general financial condition, contractual obligations, restrictions imposed by our asset-based credit facility and the indenture governing our senior notes, applicable laws, and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

Outlook

In recent months, the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine and COVID-19 safety protocols have resulted in fewer pandemic-related disruptions to both our manufacturing and distribution locations. Although many restrictions related to COVID-19 have been lightened, we continue to conduct business with certain modifications to mill and distribution center housekeeping and cleanliness protocols, employee travel, employee work locations, and virtualization or cancellation of certain sales and marketing events, among other modifications. In addition, we continue to actively monitor evolving developments, including the impact of COVID-19 variants, and may take actions that alter our business operations as may be required by federal, state, or local authorities, or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, suppliers, communities, and stockholders.

Economic uncertainty due to the pandemic continues. However, low mortgage rates, continuation of work-from-home practices by many in the economy, and demographics in the U.S. have created a favorable demand environment for new residential construction, particularly single-family housing starts, which we expect to continue in 2021 and into next year. As of July 2021, the Blue Chip Economic Indicators consensus forecast for 2021 and 2022 single- and multi-family housing starts in the U.S. were 1.60 million and 1.58 million units, respectively, compared with actual housing starts of 1.38 million in 2020, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. Although we believe that current U.S. demographics support the higher level of forecasted housing starts, and many national home builders are reporting strong near-term backlogs, labor shortages and supply induced constraints on residential construction activity may continue to extend build times and limit activity. In addition, while the age of the U.S. housing stock and limited home inventory availability will continue to provide a favorable backdrop for repair and remodel spending, we expect the recent decline in home improvement demand to continue near-term as travel restrictions are rescinded and pent-up demand for leisure spending occurs.

As a wholesale distributor of a broad mix of commodity products and a manufacturer of certain commodity products, we have sales and profitability exposure to declines in commodity product prices. Lumber pricing was very volatile during second quarter 2021, with rapidly rising prices in April and most of May followed by sharp price declines during the remainder of the quarter. Our BMD segment purchases and resells a broad mix of commodity products with periods of increasing prices providing the opportunity for higher sales and increased margins, while declining price environments expose us to declines in sales and profitability. Current composite panel and lumber prices have declined by approximately 53% and 48% from levels at the end of second quarter 2021. Future commodity product pricing and commodity input costs could be volatile in response to capacity restoration and industry operating rates, the impact of COVID-19 on residential construction, net import and export activity, transportation constraints or disruptions, inventory levels in various distribution channels, and seasonal demand patterns.

For the full second quarter results, click here.

About Boise Cascade

Boise Cascade Company is one of the largest producers of engineered wood products and plywood in North America and a leading U.S. wholesale distributor of building products. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.bc.com.

Contact:

Kelly Hibbs – Investor Relations – (208) 384-3638

Source: Boise Cascade Company