Pulp and paper firms outperform overall US economy in the 1Q; 6.2% profit margin sets an industry high

摘要

With a first-quarter 6.2% margin that was the highest since at least 2000, US pulp and paper firms outperformed overall first quarter GDP growth in the United States, which expanded at an annualized rate of 2.5%. Combined revenues for the 24 publicly-traded US pulp, paper, and forest products firms tracked by PPIPulp & Paper Week in the quarter ended Mar. 31 increased to $23.71 billion — up 7.7% compared with revenues of the 23 companies tracked in the same period last year. Unusually for what is historically the weakest quarter of the year, first quarter 2013 sales beat, if only by a whisker-thin $34 million, industry revenues for the seasonally stronger fourth quarter of 2012.