Truist Securities Reiterates Buy Rating on International Paper (IP)

Truist Securities analyst Michael Roxland reiterated a Buy rating and $48.00 price target on International Paper (NYSE: IP).

The analyst comments "This morning, International Paper (IP, Buy) presented at an industry conference where it provided commentary regarding pricing and demand trends. The company’s view of the market has not changed and it has not seen lower containerboard pricing in terms of what they sell and buy. Recall that IP has started to buy paper on the open market post capacity closures (~2mn tons; 4-5% of North America supply) last year. This is important given that IP represents ~30% of the North American containerboard market. Recall that Fastmarkets RISI (RISI) noted on Friday that February prices declined $20/ton. Given that 80% of the market is integrated today, IP noted that RISI is determining market pricing based on a small sample size. The company reiterated that it is increasing containerboard prices by $70/ton, although this will be against the $20/ton February decline, with box price flow-through on ~70% of its business, which is fixed, while the remaining ~30% is non-indexed and variable. While volumes began the year strong in North America following ~2% y/y growth in 4Q, February volumes have been softer thus far as they’ve normalized vs. January, which was positively impacted by inventory restocking. Although IP didn’t provide an outlook for March volumes, it reiterated that it expects its volumes to grow 1-2%, or ~1% above industry growth of 0-1% in 2026. The company also expects the impact of severe winter weather in the US in January to now be ~$40-50mn versus an initial estimate of $20-25mn."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on International Paper click here. For more ratings news on International Paper click here.

Shares of International Paper closed at $43.66 yesterday.

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