Forest Products

Analysts at UBS upgraded Arch Coal Inc (NYSE: ACI) from “neutral” to “buy.” ACI's shares closed at $8.06 on Friday. Arch Coal's trailing-twelve-month revenue is $4.45 billion. Analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded St. Jude Medical Inc (NYSE: STJ) from “neutral” to “buy.” STJ's shares closed at $38.88...

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX) today announced that it has priced its private offering of $350 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes due 2020. The Notes will bear interest at an annual rate of 7.5%. LP expects to close the offering of the Notes on May 21, 2012, subject to...

The MBA Mortgage Applications Survey tracks new home mortgage applications and resembles a current indicator for the U.S. housing market. The Survey increased 1.7% versus the prior week. This is essentially bullish for the U.S. housing market. MBA Mortgage Applications measures the change in the...

In recent years, traders and investors have increasingly turned to social media to discuss their investments. Now, interested parties can get a scientific look at what is being discussed on a weekly, monthly, and even hourly basis. Provided by Social Market Analytics, here is the social media...

Deutsche Bank raises its rating on Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX) to Buy from Hold and raises its price target from $10 to $12. Deutsche Bank says, "Housing demand is showing some signs of pick-up after ~5 yrs of anemic US housing starts. With ~9bsf of OSB capacity shuttered over the...

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 This is your Benzinga news summary and trader's outlook covering headlines from overnight and today's pre-market session. Benzinga's Top News OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) Reports Q1 EPS $0.23 vs $0.16 Est; Revenues $1.87B vs $1.87B Est Wendys/Arbys Group (NYSE: WEN) Reports Q1...

According to a research report this morning, D.A. Davidson is raising estimates following high expectations for a stronger quarter to come on the cost front for Louisiana-Pacific (NYSE: LPX) including a rise in PT from $8.50 to $9.50. D.A. Davidson stated, “2012 projected loss narrows from $0.48...

Analysts at Citigroup upgraded HSN Inc (NASDAQ: HSNI) from “neutral” to “buy.” HSN's shares closed at $36.88 yesterday. HSN's PEG ratio is 0.76. Needham upgraded Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ: EA) from “hold” to “buy.” EA's stock closed at $15.13 yesterday. Electronic Arts' trailing-twelve-month...

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (NYSE: LPX) today announced that it has commenced an offering of $300 million in aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes due 2020. LP intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repurchase, redeem or otherwise retire all of its outstanding 13% Senior...

The MBA Mortgage Applications Survey tracks new home mortgage applications and resembles a current indicator for the U.S. housing market. The Survey increased 0.1% versus the prior week. This is essentially bullish for the U.S. housing market. MBA Mortgage Applications measures the change in the...

Construction spending tracks the level of both residential and non-residential construction activity in the United States. The headline figure measures the percentage change from the prior month. This indicator is important because the construction industry makes up a large portion to the United...

The Pending Home Sales index measures housing contract activity. It is based on signed real estate contracts for existing single-family homes, condos and co-ops. The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.1 percent to 101.4 in March from an...

New Home Sales measures the number of new single-family homes that were sold during the prior month; this report is somewhat strongly correlated to Existing Home Sales. The Survey states that 328 thousand new single-family homes were sold in March. This is better than the 318 thousand expected by...

Building Permits tracks the change in government issued new building permits from the prior month. Housing starts tracks the change in the number of new residential buildings that began construction during the month. Both signal to the health of the US housing market. Larger-than-expected...

The MBA Mortgage Applications Survey tracks new home mortgage applications and resembles a current indicator for the U.S. housing market. The Survey increased 4.8% versus the prior week. This is essentially bullish for the U.S. housing market. MBA Mortgage Applications measures the change in the...