Building Products Company Stumbles (LPX, WY, PCL, UFPI, DEL)

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. (NYSE: LPX) reported a diluted EPS loss of -$0.34, nearly 40% worse than analysts had been expecting. The annual EPS loss came in at -$1.21, compared with a consensus estimate for an EPS loss of $0.79.

The company doesn’t compete directly with lumber giants Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) or Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc. (NYSE: PCL), although it does own about 450,000 acres of woodlands in the southeast. L-P makes siding and other wood products and competes more directly with Universal Forest Products Inc. (NASDAQ: UFPI) and Deltic Timber Corp. (NYSE: DEL), both of which have outperformed L-P over the past 12 months.

The company said single-family housing starts were at a 50-year low in 2011 and that:

Because the economy is still fragile, with slow job growth and little progress made to address our country’s underlying fiscal issues, we are planning on a slow recovery in 2012.

L-P shares are down about -3.5% at $8.57 in a 52-week range of $4.41-$11.63.