Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, could I get your recommendation on Stella-Jones? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Stella-Jones Inc., $34.20, symbol SJ on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 63.0 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; www.stella-jones.com), is a manufacturer of pressure-treated wood products. They include utility poles (42% of sales); railway ties (27%); treated lumber products for the residential construction market (20%); general-purpose logs and lumber (6%); and lumber for industrial uses such as construction timbers and highway guardrails (5%). The company gets most of its utility poles from the timberlands it leases in Quebec and B.C. It also buys wood for railway ties and other products from sawmills in the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. provides 64% of its sales, while Canada supplies the remaining 36%. On November 19, 2021, Stella-Jones announced it had completed its acquisition of both Cahaba Timber and Cahaba Pressure Treated Forest Products. It paid $36.5 million U.S. for Cahaba Timber and $66 million U.S. for the Cahaba Pressure Treated Forest Products. The two businesses had a combined 2020 revenue of $102.5 million U.S. Since 2003, Stella-Jones…