BOISE, Idaho (News release) -- Boise Cascade Company reported net income of $40.3 million, or $1.06 per share, on sales of $1.5 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared with net income of $104.1 million, or $2.61 per share, on sales of $1.6 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024.

"We delivered solid results during the quarter when considering an environment influenced by constrained demand, difficult weather, and planned downtime at our Oakdale veneer and plywood mill. I am proud of how our team remained both steady and agile in the face of these challenges while continuing to deliver superior value to our customer and vendor partners," stated Nate Jorgensen, CEO. "As we move through the second quarter and better understand the underlying demand for 2025, we will be prepared and flexible as the economic situation changes. In addition, our strong balance sheet positions us to stay committed to our ongoing strategic investments and make decisions supported by our constructive view of the long-term demand drivers underlying residential construction."

First Quarter 2025 Highlights

In first quarter 2025, total U.S. housing starts and single-family housing starts decreased 2% and 6%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2024. Single-family housing starts are the key demand driver for our sales.

Wood Products

Wood Products' sales, including sales to Building Materials Distribution (BMD), decreased $53.1 million, or 11%, to $415.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, from $468.9 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The decrease in sales was driven by lower sales prices and sales volumes for LVL and I-joists (collectively referred to as EWP). In addition, lower plywood sales prices and sales volumes also contributed to the decrease in sales. Wood Products' segment income decreased $53.5 million to $17.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, from $71.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The decrease in segment income was due primarily to lower EWP and plywood sales prices, as well as higher per-unit conversion costs as a result of downtime to complete the modernization projects at our Oakdale, Louisiana veneer and plywood mill.

Comparative average net selling prices and sales volume changes for EWP and plywood are as follows:

Building Materials Distribution

BMD's sales decreased $97.9 million, or 7%, to $1,407.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, from $1,505.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. Compared with the same quarter in the prior year, the decrease in sales was driven by a decrease in sales volume and sales price of 5% and 2%, respectively. By product line, commodity sales decreased 7%, general line product sales decreased 3%, and EWP sales (substantially all of which are sourced through our Wood Products segment) decreased 13%. BMD segment income decreased $24.0 million to $48.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025, from $72.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024. The decrease in segment income was driven by a gross margin decrease of $20.4 million, resulting primarily from lower sales volumes and decreased margins on commodity and EWP products. In addition, depreciation and amortization expense increased $3.3 million.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

Boise Cascade ended first quarter 2025 with $561.8 million of cash and cash equivalents and $395.7 million of undrawn committed bank line availability, for total available liquidity of $957.5 million. The Company had $450.0 million of outstanding debt at March 31, 2025.

Capital Allocation

We expect capital expenditures in 2025, excluding potential acquisition spending, to total approximately $220 million to $240 million. This level of capital expenditures could increase or decrease as a result of several factors, including acquisitions, efforts to further accelerate organic growth, exercise of lease purchase options, our financial results, future economic conditions, availability of engineering and construction resources, and timing and availability of equipment purchases.

For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company paid $10.5 million in common stock dividends. On May 1, 2025, our board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share on our common stock, payable on June 18, 2025, to stockholders of record on June 2, 2025.

For the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company paid $53.9 million for the repurchase of approximately 482,700 shares of our common stock. In April 2025, the Company repurchased an additional 179,445 shares of our common stock at a cost of approximately $17 million. Subsequent to these share repurchases, there were approximately 1.1 million shares available for repurchase under our existing share repurchase program.

Outlook

Demand for the products we manufacture, as well as the products we purchase and distribute, is correlated with new residential construction, residential repair-and-remodeling activity, and light commercial construction. Residential construction, particularly new single-family construction, is the key demand driver for the products we manufacture and distribute. Over the past quarter, the operating environment was challenged. In addition to seasonally slower activity, consumer and homebuilder sentiment was dampened due to significant macroeconomic uncertainties and elevated mortgage rates. Given the current environment, 2025 end market demand expectations are difficult to predict, with most forecasts for housing starts ranging between flat to mid-single digit year-over-year declines. Ultimately, the level and expectations for mortgage rates, home affordability, home equity levels, home size, levels of new and existing home inventory for sale, unemployment levels, consumer confidence, and other factors will influence the near-term demand environment. Long term demand drivers for residential construction, characterized by an undersupply in housing units, aging U.S. housing stock, and elevated levels of homeowner equity remain in place.

As a manufacturer of certain commodity products, we have sales and profitability exposure to declines in commodity product prices and rising input costs. Our distribution business purchases and resells a broad mix of products with periods of increasing prices providing the opportunity for higher sales and increased margins, while declining price environments expose us to declines in sales and profitability. Future product pricing, particularly commodity products pricing and input costs, may be volatile in response to economic uncertainties, industry operating rates, supply-related disruptions, imposition of tariffs, transportation constraints or disruptions, net import and export activity, inventory levels in various distribution channels, and seasonal demand patterns. In addition, EWP volumes will continue to be influenced by changes in new single-family housing starts and we expect modest EWP price erosion in the second quarter.