their stocks aren’t quite as hot as home builders’ but weyerhaeuser wy 054increase green up pointing triangle  boise cascade bcc 105increase green up pointing triangle and others that own sawmills and make wood panels have been big winners lately thanks to the recovery in residential construction housing starts rose in may to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 16 million the census bureau said last month that is 22 more than in april and the most since the federal reserve began raising interest rates early last year to cool the overheating property market and squelch inflation it also means builders are going to need a lot more wood woodproducts firms were among the leaders of the pandemic stock rally banking windfall profits when stuckathome americans remodeled all at once and lumber prices shot to the moon the stocks slumped when wood prices fell back to earth and higher interest rates slowed the housing market last year but their star has risen anew with investors shares of sawmill owners interfor and west fraser timber wfg 174increase green up pointing triangle along with boise cascade and louisianapacific lpx 007decrease red down pointing triangle  which specialize in engineered wood products each rose more than 25 in june canfor cfpzf 147increase green up pointing triangle and weyerhaeuser last month added 24 and 17 respectively compared with a 65 gain in the sp 500 stock index the sawyers have the pandemic’s ultralow interest rates to thank for the jolt millions of americans are locked into mortgage rates below 4 and face much higher borrowing costs if they move the average rate on a 30year mortgage was 671 this week according to mortgage finance giant freddie mac that is down from more than 7 last autumn but more than twice the rate two summers ago when lumber prices surged and droves of homeowners were refinancing their mortgages—often taking cash out in the process to pay for renovations few existing homes for sale means new construction is the main option for many house hunters these days big home builders like pultegroup phm 047increase green up pointing triangle and kb home are ramping up construction of spec homes prices for twobyfours and sheet products such as oriented strand board used for floors and roofs have perked up lumber futures have risen 15 since april to 531 per thousand board feet pricing service random lengths said its framing lumber composite price which tracks onthespot sales ended the week at 438 up from 389 in late may panel prices crept higher this week as well in the nearterm wood prices are more likely to rise than fall said ketan mamtora a bmo capital markets analyst he noted forest fires disrupting production in canada flagging european imports and delayed effects from recent mill closures in british columbia where producers need relatively high prices to operate profitably raymond james on wednesday added weyerhaeuser—which produces about 950000 miles of lumber a year and more than enough wood panels to cover manhattan four sheets thick—to its list of top buys the firm’s analysts estimate that weyerhaeuser’s shares are trading at about 25 less than the value of the company’s assets which include 11 million acres of us timberland and 35 mills “our math suggests that investors can currently purchase the largest us timberland portfolio at a healthy discount to private valuations and get weyerhaeuser’s industry leading lowcost woodproducts manufacturing platform for free” they wrote in a note to clients truist analyst michael roxland upgraded boise cascade and louisianapacific to buy ratings wednesday citing the makers of engineered wood products’ greater exposure to singlefamily home construction than commodity lumber producers who sell into a variety of markets “the worst of the housing slowdown is behind the industry” he said