RE: Lumber index DJUSFR & DJUSPP moving higher Thanks for the update, Fratzy!
As I've posted elsewhere, the fundamental economic situation regarding US Housing appears to have bottomed, and lately the industry, along with related stocks have started to show signs of life.
US Housing stocks, like PHM-N, have more than doubled since last December, but early signs of a "potential" turnaround have been relatively ignored by the investment community here in Canada (especially with respect to the comparable stock price performance of forest/timber companies whose fundamentals are tied to a recovery in the US housing market.)
It's still a little early for some of the junior timber companies on the Tsx-V, but some of the mid-sized and larger cap companies have already started to respond to improving lumber prices. See stocks like IFP.A and NBD-T. (Norbord manufactures oriented-strand board, which is used heavily in residential construction). Both of these stocks have started to move significantly over the past few weeks.
More recently, Western Forest (WEF-T) has seen a stock price lift in the past few days... this after reporting decent earnings at the end of July. GE also announced extended financing with WEF-T, which undoubtedly helps reduce some of the financial risk with this company.
It will be interesting to see what ETR's financials look like when they report (later this month, I believe). ETR is much, much more speculative and risky from a financial perspective than any of the companies I've mentioned above. ETR has struggled to show any sort of profitability, and the whole prospects of this company seem to be wholly tied to a recovery in both lumber prices, as well as the US Housing market.... two things which quite possibly might be just over the horizon.
According to something I read in Madison's Lumber, Eacom is planning to rebuild the mill in Timmins that was destroyed by fire. https://www.madisonsreport.com/keyprice.html#Eacom%20Timmins
However, I'm not sure what the projected cost of this might be.
Also, I'm not sure how it will affect ETR's financial situation.
I'd love to buy more Eacom, because if the fundamentals play out nicely, then this could be a multi-bagger.
At this point, however, due to lack of information I have, I'm going to hold off on adding to my position until I can get a better handle on the financial situation at ETR... which will undoubtedly be forthcoming with the next set of financials.
However, improving lumber prices and improving fundamentals in the US housing sector have prompted me to sit up and take a bit closer notice of most companies in this sector.
GLTA!