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This is the first in a three-part series related to the financial performance, current trends and changing structure of the timberland investment sector. While trees continue grow, timberland values continue to fall. In the world of mortals, every financial return more…
One reality of market and investment research is that if a data set “should” exist, it doesn’t. And if it does exist, it’s probably out of date (especially in forestry). Therefore, my team views the systematic aggregation, tracking and analysis more…
People who cite a rising stock market as evidence of economic health (1) make me nervous and (2) remind me what Timber REIT said to Timberland as they walked out of the gym: “You’re such a hard asset.” Roiled and more…
Executive Summary: all timberland investment vehicles exceed US Treasury benchmarks over long time frames; timber REIT dividend distributions enhance yields to help offset short term share price volatility. U.S. Treasuries remain a common benchmark for private timberland investments. Why? Relative more…
Years ago, I held shares in Crown Pacific Partners, a timberland-owning firm headquartered in Portland, Oregon. During market declines in the late 1990s, the firm subsidized its shareholder distributions through borrowing and cash generated from non-organic business activities. In other more…
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported on the rush of investors buying into publicly-traded real estate investment trusts (“Real-estate investors target neighborhood that is looking up,” Wall Street Journal, 11/15/11). According to Citigroup Global Markets, investors, year-to-date, invested 18% more…
When studying exchange rates and currency markets, I sometimes think of the old joke “the quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and stick it back in your pocket.” Currency markets shake more than more…
It’s December 31, 2010 and you’re sitting on a pile of cash. Do you invest in the S&P 500, an all-REIT index, private timberlands or publicly-traded timber REITs? Based on the performance of key indices, putting your chips in with more…
Second quarter 2011 results reported by Plum Creek (PCL) and Potlatch (PCH) the past two days indicated continued weakness in those segments affected by housing markets (timber harvesting and wood products manufacturing). Both firms somewhat offset lower timber harvesting cash more…
According to Forisk tracking of timberland ownership, 58 firms currently own or manage in excess of 100,000 acres of timberlands in the United States. These firms feature the following descriptive statistics: As a group, they own/manage 57.6 million acres of more…