The recovering housing market is fueling business at lumber, wood products and real estate company Weyerhaeuser, which said Friday that its fourth-quarter net income more than doubled.
The Federal Way company earned $143 million, or 26 cents a share, in the three months through Dec. 31, up from $65 million, or 12 cents a share, in the same quarter the year before.
Revenue rose 24 percent to $2 billion from $1.62 billion, as prices and sales volumes rose for lumber, demand rose for logs from earlier in the year and the company had a longer list of homes due to be sold.
The results beat Wall Street predictions. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 20 cents a share on $1.83 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.
The company last year increased its dividend as it benefited from a stronger housing market. For the current quarter, it expects higher lumber volumes, better prices for logs and a slight profit from its homebuilding division. It expects lower earnings in its cellulose fibers division.
The housing market began to recover in 2012, helped by stable job gains and record-low mortgage rates. Home prices rose steadily, and builders finished their best year for residential construction since 2008. For the full year, Weyerhaeuser earned $385 million, or 71 cents a share, up from $331 million, or 62 cents a share, in 2011. Revenue rose to $7.06 billion from $6.22 billion.
Weyerhaeuser shares have gained 55 percent during the past 12 months.
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