Forestweb U.S. Stock Index Rises 62% in 2009, Outpacing S&P and Dow

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2009, the Forestweb U.S. Forest Products Stock Index outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial indexes. After a rough start, 2009 finished with a momentous victory for investors in forest products companies, with stocks bouncing back from a three-year low on March 9, 2009 and more than doubling in the space of nine months. The Forestweb U.S. index gained 62.26% from the start of the year to close at 82.25.

The Forestweb U.S. index is comprehensive, containing the stocks of all publicly-held forest products-related companies headquartered in the United States that trade on the major stock exchanges. It's a real-time index, with trading data updated every 10 minutes to reflect the price movement of significant sector participants, including established leaders as well as those poised for future leadership.

The five biggest companies in the index, based on annual revenue, are International Paper Co. (IP), Kimberly-Clark Corp. (KMB), Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY), MeadWestvaco (MWV) and Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. The index was started at the beginning of 2009, with 2007 as the base year.

The lowest point in the history of the Forestweb U.S. index was reached on March 9, 2009, when it hit 36.84. It rose 123.3% in nine months from that low, mirroring the situation in the broader markets. The Dow Jones Industrial and the Standard & Poor's 500 also hit bottom in March as well. But the Dow then rose 3,881.00, or 59.3%, from its March 9 close, and the S&P 500 rose 438.57, or 64.8%.

For the entire 12-month period, the S&P closed the year at 1,115.10, up 23.45%, and the Dow closed at 10,428.05, up 18.82%. Comparatively, the Forestweb U.S. index closed at 82.25, up 62.26%.

Highs

The high for the Forest Products U.S. Stock Index year was 83.71 reached on Dec. 29. Despite the gain it was still more than 25 points below the three-year high of 108.76 reached on June 4, 2007. The high for 2008 of 94.33 was reached on Jan. 3 of that year. The index closed on Dec. 31, 2008, at 50.69.  

Smurfit-Stone filed for bankruptcy Jan. 26 of last year and subsequently traded over-the-counter on the pink sheets. Hence, for most of 2009, its stock was not reflected in the index. Caraustar ended trading on Aug. 21 when it became a private company and was excluded from the index.

Gainers

All companies active in the index posted percentage increases, some of which were in the triple digits.

The biggest gainer overall was a small cap stock, Boise Inc. (BZ), which rose 1,134.88% to close at $5.31/share; a year ago it was trading at $0.43. Among the larger market cap companies, Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) turned in the best performance, rising 347.44% to close at $6.98/share.

A similar upward trajectory for investors in 2010 may not develop. One analyst is concerned that much of the volume loss in the North American paper sector may remain lost forever, limiting expansion possibilities.

Forestweb's U.S. Forest Products Stock Index is e-mailed each day at the close of market to registered users who sign up at http://my.forestweb.com/iiStockIndex.

About Forestweb/Industry Intelligence Inc.

Industry Intelligence Inc., along with its sister company Forestweb, specialize in providing market intelligence solutions that give you a comprehensive view of business and marketmoving events, all within an intuitive, easy-to-use platform that promotes collaboration and action. Together, both companies gather, filter, and connect the relevant market intelligence a company needs to drive its decisions and operations.

Founded in 1999, privately held, and headquartered in Los Angeles, Industry Intelligence Inc. and Forestweb Inc. have worked with more than 600 companies of all sizes and across such diverse market sectors as forest products: pulp & paper; wood products: lumber and panels; timberlands; packaging: paper & plastics; builders & developers; chemicals; industrial equipment; financial institutions; and government agencies. For more information visit www.industryintel.com.

SOURCE Forestweb Inc.