5 Best Lumber Stocks to Buy Now

3. Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 18

Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) is a Florida-based real estate investment trust founded in 1926. It is ranked third on our list of 10 best lumber stocks to buy now. The company’s shares have offered investors returns exceeding 43% over the past twelve months. The company owns and operates timberlands in the United States and New Zealand. It has business interests in real estate in addition to the wood and lumber markets. The company has a market cap of over $5 billion and posted more than $859 million in revenue last year. 

In quarterly earnings results, posted on May 5, Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) reported a revenue of close to $180 million for the first three months of 2021, up more than 25% year-on-year but missing market estimates by $20 million. 

Falling lumber prices have hit timberland real estate investment trust in recent weeks, with Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) falling 0.9% in value on May 17. This comes after a record year-long rally that saw many lumber stocks climb to 52-week highs in early May. 

Out of the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, London-based firm Impax Asset Management is a leading shareholder in Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) with 8.9 million shares worth more than $287 million. 

In its Q3 2020 investor letter, Third Avenue Management, an asset management firm, highlighted a few stocks and Rayonier Inc. (NYSE: RYN) was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“Third Avenue has long championed enterprises with sound business practices run by aligned control groups that exhibit strong stewardship. Within Third Avenue’s real estate strategy, this oftentimes leads the Fund to “pass” on investments in companies with uncertain environmental liabilities, business models that could be deemed predatory, and corporate governance structures that are stacked against key stakeholders. Consequently, the select-set of real estate and real estate-related business that make it into the Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund represent some of the true industry leaders in respect to their ESG practices, including Rayonier, that own more than ‘2.7 million’ acres of timberlands and sequester more carbon than any other privately-held enterprises globally (to our knowledge)— an underappreciated attribute that may ultimately have incremental value through a carbon-credit initiative or even strategic value for larger enterprises seeking to offset emissions.”