BOISE CASCADE Co

Company Background

Boise Cascade is a large, integrated wood products manufacturer and building materials distributor with widespread operations throughout the United States (U.S.) and one manufacturing facility in Canada. We completed an initial public offering of our common stock on February 11, 2013. We have two reportable segments: (i) Wood Products, which primarily manufactures engineered wood products (EWP) and plywood; and (ii) Building Materials Distribution (BMD), which is a wholesale distributor of building materials. For more information, see Note 3, Revenues, and Note 15, Segment Information, of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in "Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" and "Item 1. Business" of this Form 10-K. Our products are used in the construction of new residential housing, including single-family, multi-family, and manufactured homes, the repair-and-remodeling of existing housing, the construction of light industrial and commercial buildings, and industrial applications. We have a broad base of customers, which includes a diverse mix of dealers, home improvement centers, leading wholesalers, specialty distributors, and industrial converters. Our Wood Products and BMD segments are integrated from wood fiber procurement through distribution. During 2024, approximately 70% of our Wood Products segment sales, or approximately 75% and 50% of our Wood Product segment's EWP and plywood sales volumes, respectively, were to our BMD segment.

Executive Summary

We recorded income from operations of $490.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, compared with $624.4 million during the same period in the prior year. In our Wood Products segment, income decreased by $105.7 million to $231.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, from $337.1 million in 2023. The decrease in segment income was due primarily to lower EWP and plywood sales prices, as well as higher wood fiber and conversion costs. These decreases were offset partially by higher EWP sales volumes. In our BMD segment, income decreased $32.4 million to $303.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2024, from $335.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. The decline in segment income was driven by increased selling and distribution expenses and depreciation and amortization expense of $37.4 million and $17.2 million, respectively. These decreases in segment income were offset partially by a gross margin increase of $15.1 million, resulting primarily from improved gross margins on general line products, offset partially by lower gross margins on EWP and commodity products. These changes are discussed further in "Our Operating Results" below.

We ended 2024 with $713.3 million of cash and cash equivalents and $450.0 million of debt. At December 31, 2024, we had $395.7 million of unused committed bank line availability. We used $236.3 million of cash during the year ended December 31, 2024, as cash provided by operations was offset by capital spending, dividends paid on our common stock, and treasury stock purchases. A further description of our cash sources and uses for the comparative periods are discussed in "Liquidity and Capital Resources" below.

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. As reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, housing starts were 1.37 million in 2024. Current industry forecasts for U.S. housing starts are approximately 1.35 million in 2025. Single-family starts in 2024 outpaced 2023 levels by 7%, and are expected to remain at approximately 1.0 million, despite the affordability challenges consumers are facing in the current rate environment. Multi-family starts declined sharply in 2024 and are expected to continue to face headwinds in 2025 due to prohibitive capital costs for developers, combined with elevated levels of multi-family unit completions in 2023 and 2024. We expect 2025 to reflect modest growth in home improvement spending, as the age of U.S. housing stock, elevated levels of homeowner equity, and recent improvement in existing home sales will provide a favorable backdrop for repair-and-remodel spending. Ultimately, macroeconomic factors, the level and expectations for mortgage rates, home affordability, home equity levels, home size, levels of new and existing home inventory for sale, and other factors will influence the near-term demand environment for the products we manufacture and distribute.

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, transportation constraints or disruptions, net import and export activity, inventory levels in various distribution channels, and seasonal demand patterns. In addition, changes in laws or government regulations, such as the imposition of tariffs, could impact our product pricing and input costs.