Boise Cascade Company - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 EPS missed consensus while revenue slightly beat: Diluted EPS $1.06 vs $1.29 consensus*, revenue $1.54B vs $1.53B consensus*; Adjusted EBITDA $91.6M vs $102.1M consensus*.
• Segment pressure from engineered wood products (EWP) pricing and Oakdale downtime: Wood Products EBITDA fell 58% YoY to $40.2M; BMD gross margin was 14.7%, down 40 bps YoY.
• Management guided to sequential Q2 improvement in EWP and BMD: EWP volumes mid- to high-single-digit increase; EWP pricing low-single-digit decline; Oakdale restart still a ~$5M headwind; April BMD daily sales pace +13% vs Q1 run rate.
• Capital deployment remains active: 2025 capex $220–$240M; dividend $0.21; ~$71M buybacks through April and ~1.1M shares still authorized.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• March sales velocity improved, and April accelerated: BMD April daily sales pace was ~13% higher than Q1’s $22.3M/day; management expects BMD EBITDA margin to return to mid‑5% in Q2.
• Liquidity and balance sheet strength: Cash $561.8M and undrawn revolver $395.7M, total liquidity $957.5M; debt $450.0M.
• Strategic projects on schedule: Oakdale modernization phasing back online by end of Q2; Thorsby I‑line expected to be operational in H1 2026.

Management quote: “Our team 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.” — CEO Nate Jorgensen.

What Went Wrong

• EPS and EBITDA missed Street: EPS $1.06 vs $1.29 consensus*, Adjusted EBITDA $91.6M vs $102.1M consensus*.
• EWP pricing pressure and competitive intensity persisted: LVL and I‑joist prices −3% sequential and −9% YoY; management flagged continued competition for share.
• Oakdale downtime materially impacted profitability: ~$8M year‑over‑year impact in Q1 and ~$7M sequential; expected additional ~$5M headwind in Q2.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning. My name is Rivka, and I'll be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Boise Cascade's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. It is now my pleasure to introduce you to Chris Forrey, Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations, Boise Cascade. Mr. Forrey, you may begin your conference.

Chris Forrey (VP of Finance and Investor Relations)

Thank you, Rivka, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to Boise Cascade's first quarter 2025 earnings call and business update. Joining me on today's call are Nate Jorgensen, our CEO; Jeff Strom, our COO; Kelly Hibbs, our CFO; Troy Little, head of our wood products operations; and Jo Barney, head of our building materials distribution operations. Turning to slide two, this call will contain forward-looking statements. Please review the warning statements in our press release, on the presentation slides, and in our filings with the SEC regarding the risks associated with these forward-looking statements. Also, please note that the appendix includes reconciliations from our GAAP net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA and segment income to segment EBITDA. I will now turn the call over to Nate.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thanks, Chris. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our earnings call today. I'm on slide number three. Total U.S. housing starts and single-family housing starts decreased 2% and 6%, respectively, compared to the prior year quarter. Our consolidated first quarter sales of $1.5 billion were down 7% from first quarter of 2024. Our net income was $40.3 million, or $1.06 per share, compared to net income of $104.1 million, or $2.61 per share in the year-ago quarter. Our team delivered solid results during the quarter when considering an environment influenced by constrained demand, uncertain trade policies, and difficult weather. Homebuyer affordability challenges continue to affect demand, and we were compounded by increasing economic uncertainty that has led us to lower consumer and builder confidence.

Despite the backdrop, our associates across the company remain clearly focused on delivering value to our customer and vendor partners, for which I'm incredibly grateful. In addition, the plant outage at our Oakdale, Louisiana, plywood and veneer facility mill negatively impacted our first quarter results. The significant modernization projects underway there are on schedule to be completed at the end of the second quarter and will contribute to the ongoing strength of our EWP franchise. Lastly, our clear focus on strategic investments and returns of capital to our shareholders is bolstered by the strength of our balance sheet and our constructive view on long-term demand drivers for residential construction. Kelly will now walk through our financial segment results and provide an update on our capital allocation priorities, after which I'll provide an outlook before we take your questions. Kelly?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Thank you, Nate. Good morning, everyone. Wood product sales in the first quarter, including sales to our distribution segment, were $415.8 million, down 11% compared to first quarter 2024. Wood product segment EBITDA was $40.2 million compared to EBITDA of $95.6 million reported in the year-ago quarter. The decrease in segment EBITDA was due primarily to lower EWP and plywood sales prices and lower EWP volumes. In addition, the scheduled Oakdale outage negatively impacted year-over-year and sequential EBITDA comparisons by approximately $8 million and $7 million, respectively. In BMD, our sales in the quarter were $1.4 billion, down 7% from first quarter 2024. BMD reported segment EBITDA of $62.8 million in the first quarter compared to segment EBITDA of $83.6 million in the prior year quarter. BMD's gross margin dollars decreased $20.4 million from first quarter 2024, and our gross margin was 14.7%, a 40 basis point decline year-over-year.

Turning to slide five, on a year-over-year basis, first quarter volumes for both LVL and I-joists were down 3%, better than the 6% year-over-year decline in single-family housing starts. The pullback in starts stems from a consistent theme we hear from the builder community around moderating the pace of new starts as they continue to sell through higher-than-anticipated inventory levels. As it relates to pricing, sequential results for both LVL and I-joists were down 3% due to continued pricing pressure created by the constrained demand environment and competition for share. Turning to slide six, our first quarter plywood sales volume was 363 million feet compared to 372 million feet in first quarter 2024, primarily driven by the planned outage at our Oakdale mill. The $341 per thousand average plywood net sales price in the first quarter was down 10% on a year-over-year basis and down 3% sequentially.

Moving to slide seven and eight, BMD's year-over-year first quarter sales decline of 7% was driven by a 5% decrease in volume and a 2% decrease in price. By product line, commodity sales decreased 7%, general line product sales decreased 3%, and sales of EWP decreased 13%. Weather meaningfully influenced our sales activity in the first quarter, with our January and February daily pace below $21.5 million before March rebounded to exceed $24 million per day. As I mentioned earlier, BMD's first quarter gross margin percentage was 14.7%, down 40 basis points year-over-year. In particular, gross margin dollars were affected by lower sales volumes and decreased margins on commodity and EWP products. BMD's EBITDA margin was 4.5% for the quarter, down from the 5.6% reported in the year-ago quarter, a reflection of lower gross margin dollar opportunity from slower sales activity and the associated deleveraging of our cost base.

However, it is important to again reference the improved sales velocity in March, which resulted in EBITDA margins for that month similar to levels seen in recent quarters. Our BMD team continues to consistently provide high service levels across a broad mix of best-in-class products, and as we have spoken to in the past, periods like now where there is near-term demand or price uncertainty allows us to again demonstrate the value proposition of two-step distribution. I'm now on slide nine. As we look forward to the second quarter, EWP volumes will be dependent upon new home sales and the pace at which builders begin new starts. Our EWP order files improved seasonally as we entered the second quarter, and we expect EWP volumes to increase by mid to high single digits sequentially. On EWP pricing, we expect to experience low single-digit sequential declines as competition for share persists.

In plywood, we expect seasonal strengthening and a partial restart at Oakdale to result in mid-single-digit sequential volume increases. On plywood pricing, quarter-to-date realizations are consistent with our first quarter average. The partial operating status at Oakdale is expected to negatively impact our financial results by roughly $5 million in the second quarter, independent of market conditions. With regard to BMD sales, April's daily sales pace accelerated from the strengthening we saw in March and was approximately 13% higher than the first quarter 2025 sales pace of $22.3 million per day. Our daily sales pace for the balance of the quarter will be dependent upon end-market demand and product pricing. Lastly, we expect approximately $38 million in total company depreciation and amortization, a 26% effective tax rate, and we have $37.6 million in common shares outstanding as of April 30th. I'm now on slide ten.

We had capital expenditures of $53 million in the first quarter, with $31 million of spending in wood products and $22 million of spending in BMD. Our capital spending range for 2025 remains between $220 million and $240 million. This range includes additional spending on our multi-year investments in support of our EWP production capabilities in the Southeast that we have spoken to previously. At Oakdale, impacted machine centers are restarting in phases, and we are excited to have that facility fully operational again by the end of the second quarter. The Thorsby eyeline is expected to be operational in the first half of 2026. In BMD, we have made great progress on our Greenfield distribution in Hondo, Texas, where construction is roughly 80% complete, and we look forward to its initial startup by the end of the third quarter.

Speaking to shareholder returns, we paid $10 million in regular dividends during the quarter. Our board of directors also recently approved a $0.21 per share quarterly dividend on our common stock. Shareholders of record as of June 2nd will receive payment of this dividend on June 18. Through the first four months of 2025, we repurchased $71 million of our common stock, $54 million in the first quarter, and another $17 million in April. Today, we have about 1.1 million shares available for repurchase under our current share repurchase program. Not unexpectedly, our cash position declined in the first quarter due to seasonal increases in working capital and the previously referenced capital investments and shareholder returns. Our balance sheet remains strong, and we continue to be dedicated to a balanced deployment of capital by investing in our existing asset base, pursuing organic growth opportunities, and returning capital to our shareholders.

We also maintain the flexibility to execute M&A if opportunities emerge that align with our growth strategy. I will now turn it back over to Nate to share our business outlook and closing remarks.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thanks, Kelly. I'm on slide number 11. Given the current environment, 2025 end-market demand expectations remain difficult to predict, with most forecasts for housing ranging between flat to mid-single-digit declines. Our first quarter results impacted meaningfully by seasonal factors, and our purposeful strategic investments are in no way a good indicator of how end-market demand and our financial results will play out for the balance of 2025. Expectations for the remainder of the year are unclear as significant macroeconomic uncertainties and elevated mortgage rates have dampened consumer and home builder confidence. However, what we do have great clarity in is the strength of our team and our ability to execute at a high level across all market conditions. We remain both steady and agile, we'll be prepared to respond as the economic situation changes and remain resolute in our service to our customer and supplier partners.

The long-term demand drivers for our business remain strong, characterized by undersupply in housing units, aging U.S. housing stock, and elevated levels of homeowner equity. The structural demand built into the housing market and our robust balance sheet provide us the ability to stay focused on the execution of our strategy and creation of long-term value for our stakeholders. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued support and interest in Boise Cascade. We welcome any questions at this time. Rivka, would you please open the phone lines?

Operator (participant)

Thank you. At this time, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Susan Maklari of Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.

Susan Maklari (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Morning.

Good morning. I wanted to start on the general line side of the business. I guess, given the shifts in the macro that we've seen through the quarter, any thoughts on what you're hearing from some of your key suppliers there, positions of those inventories? You also mentioned the benefit of a two-step distribution model in this environment. I guess, what are you also hearing from customers, and how are they leveraging that service there to help with their own inventories in the channel?

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Hey, Susan, I'll start the conversation, and then Jo and Jeff and others can jump in as needed. I think overall, what we're seeing is that customers specific to the general line category are really dependent on two-step distribution in terms of the auto warehouse support on units, job packs, pieces, maybe as compared to full heavy line direct shipments. That auto warehouse support continues to remain a theme, and we're seeing that in terms of both expectations from our suppliers in general line, as well as how our customers, in terms of how they're thinking about, to your point, on their working capital positions. I think the other thing that we're experiencing with our general line, which is really good, is their introduction of new products, new SKUs.

That kind of creates a different maybe narrative in the marketplace where customers may be hesitant to bring some of those new items in because they just do not know maybe the strength or the kind of the cadence of some of those new products. Their dependency on two-step distribution, BMD, remains very high. I think overall, we are looked to as probably even more important today just in providing those just-in-time services as our customers are managing their working capital. Again, they are working that kind of risk and reward on having inventory levels, both on demand and also on price realization. Overall, it feels steady and consistent. Two-step distribution is really an important part of that equation.

Susan Maklari (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. All right. That is very helpful, Nate. You mentioned that the Oakdale project is progressing. It sounds like that has gone well. Any thoughts as you start to bring that back online relative to the macro environment that we are in and how you are positioned in terms of ramping that up?

Troy Little (EVP of Wood Products Operations)

Yeah. Good morning, Susan. This is Troy. Yeah. I mean, when that comes back online, the majority of that veneer goes into our EWP side. So we've been buying veneer on the open market right now to supplement that. When they come back online, that veneer will shift back into the EWP. There will be some, let's say, limited plywood volume that will come along with that, but we will just offset what we are buying on the open market and continue and then adjust to production as necessary depending on demand.

Susan Maklari (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

Okay. All right. That's helpful. I'm going to squeeze one last one in, which is it was nice to see the comments on the capital allocation and potential for the buybacks. Can you talk a bit more how you're thinking about those priorities for this year, just given the world that we're in and anything of note on the M&A pipeline?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Hi, Susan. This is Kelly. Nothing of—I'll take your question in reverse order a bit here. Nothing of note on the M&A pipeline. I think there are still some inbounds, but I think given kind of this near-term uncertainty, I think it has been a little bit quieter in terms of inbounds of late. We are still certainly interested to grow via M&A if that right opportunity presents itself. In terms of capital allocation in general, our script and our narrative is very much the same. We are excited about the good amount of organic project work we have ahead of us, and we will expect to continue to be opportunistically in a thoughtful way in the market regarding share repurchases.

Susan Maklari (Senior Equity Research Analyst)

All right. Thank you all for the color, and good luck with everything.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Thank you, Sue.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thanks, Sue.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Kurt Yinger of DA Davidson. Your line is now open.

Kurt Yinger (SVP and Research Analyst)

Great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone.

Troy Little (EVP of Wood Products Operations)

Good morning, Kurt.

Kurt Yinger (SVP and Research Analyst)

Just wanted to start off on EWP pricing. Kelly, not to pin you down all that much, but I guess directionally, would you expect kind of Q2 versus Q1 sequential pressures to be kind of about the same or maybe even lessening a little bit? I am hoping you could also just talk a little bit more about the competitive dynamics. As you have kind of moved into March and April and seen some seasonal strengthening, whether any of those pressures may be alleviating a little bit or if there is kind of a light at the end of the tunnel that you guys are seeing at this stage.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Sure. Kurt, I'll start, and then maybe Nate and Troy, others can fill in. In terms of the sequential guide, yeah, we did say low single-digit again. I think we were off roughly 3% sequentially here in the first quarter. We still have May and June to come, and it's still a very competitive environment out there. Yeah, I guess I would guide to a similar percentage to what we experienced in the first quarter in terms of sequential. Again, we'll see how May and June turn out. In terms of the kind of underlying activity, like I alluded to in my comments, the order file and EWP did seasonally strengthen pretty nicely here in April. At the end of the day, we're still around a seasonally adjusted annual rate on single-family housing starts that's probably less than a million, right?

We're still in an environment where there's still competition for share. Until we see more strength in the underlying demand, I think we'll need to see that before we see some levelization on pricing.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Hey, Kurt, maybe just to add to that, I think generally Q2 and kind of the seasonal change represents where maybe there is overall less focus on pricing on a range of products and services, and people really get centered on execution and serving the marketplace. We will see how that narrative plays out through the quarter. Generally, and history would tell us, second quarter generally is, again, more execution-focused and less on kind of setting up programs and some of the details around that. I think the other narrative for us is when it comes to home builder focus, they continue to stay focused on, obviously, their input costs, but also cycle times.

As you think about EWP and its ability to compete and win relative to other options that are out there, whether it's dimensional lumber or even plated floor trusses, EWP is certainly an answer in terms of affordability and relative to open web trusses and also creates that kind of speed and simplicity on the job site, which again remains important for the builder. Those would be maybe two backdrops as we transition into the building season, and we'll obviously be watching both of those carefully.

Kurt Yinger (SVP and Research Analyst)

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. Kelly, just on the Oakdale impact, the $5 million, I assume that's on a year-over-year basis. I guess with Troy's comments earlier around kind of buying open market veneer to supply EWP, is that kind of cost differential contemplated in some of the numbers you've talked about related to this outage, or would that be separate?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Good question, Kurt. The first part, the $5 million is sequential. The expected impact is sequential in terms of the impact of Oakdale. We expect to continue to see some challenges there as we start up. In terms of the veneer, I spoke to, I think, $8 million and $7 million impacts on EBITDA from Oakdale. In fourth and first quarter, we were buying some amount of veneer. There is not a lot of incremental cost of veneer impact into the second quarter. That was more of a year-over-year impact.

Kurt Yinger (SVP and Research Analyst)

Okay. Got it. Perfect. Lastly, just on BMD, it sounds like general line is pretty stable. In terms of gross margin percentage, I guess how much pressure are you seeing there in EWP? I guess we look at kind of the last two years outside of quarter-to-quarter noise, you guys have been kind of 15% plus on gross margin. Is that still attainable for 2025? Or given some of these dynamics, is that maybe a little bit optimistic?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. No, I think 15% is still certainly attainable. We were a little bit below that this quarter, did not have a lot of opportunity on the commodity side. There was some competitive pressures, but I think definitely 15% is attainable given the mix shift we have seen, and especially as we head here into the second and third quarter where you start to see a bit of a richer product mix typically. Short answer is yes on the 15%, Kurt.

Kurt Yinger (SVP and Research Analyst)

Perfect. All right. Thank you very much.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Thank you.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thanks, Kurt.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of George Staphos of Bank of America Securities. Your line is now open.

George Staphos (Managing Director)

Hi everyone. Good morning. Thanks for the details. Just a couple of quick ones to dig onto the existing question that were asked. Can you talk a little bit about the competitive pressures in EWP? Are you seeing it more from existing engineered players, or are you seeing it more because of or from either dimensional or from folks producing open web trusses? Secondly, and it sounds like everything is fine here, but in terms of the 13% improvement that you're seeing in daily sales so far in 2Q, any change or anything, any trend that we should be aware of in terms of mix velocity? Again, it sounds like everything's fine. We just want to check that box, guys.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Maybe on the EWP, let me say, George, it's Nate, just on the EWP side of things, I think what we're seeing is the narrative on two-by-tens and open web trusses is largely consistent and steady, not a lot there. Where we generally see the competitive challenges is with EWP producers. That is something that we are committed to making sure we're competitive and in market each and every day for our customers, both our direct customers as well as through the channel. That has been the backdrop in terms of the competitive nature, and that has been in place here for several quarters. That would be probably kind of our current view on EWP and what we're seeing and what we're expecting there relative to the competitive nature.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. I guess the second part of your question, George, was around the 13% sequential increase we've seen so far in the daily sales phase in BMD, which that math tells you it's about $25 million a day through April compared to the $22.3 million we experienced in the first quarter. I wouldn't say there's any big mix shift or anything like that. It's really just a function of the spring building season, better weather, and really out of the gates here pretty strong in April, which is great. If you do the math, $25 million-ish a day times 64 days, you'll see BMD kick out $1.6 billion or so in revenue in the second quarter, which would be up $200 million sequentially.

That gives you a good sense of the gross margin dollar opportunity and the better leverage you can get on our cost base that we expect to put up certainly an improved number here in the second quarter in BMD.

George Staphos (Managing Director)

Yeah, Kelly, I appreciate that. What I was getting at, and maybe could have posed the question differently, just it seems like momentum has actually continued or accelerated. It's not like we're at 13%, but there's been a fade more recently. I was more or less just confirming that or not if you want to comment. Can you give us, along with that, can you give us a quick comment on the door strategy, how that's working? Are there any elements of the supply chain into BMD that we should be mindful of relative to tariffs, any difficulties getting product that you need, or you're in pretty good shape there? Thanks and good luck in the quarter.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Yeah, just a quick follow-up, yeah. That pace I referenced has continued through the first few days in April, and we feel good about that. In terms of the doors and supply chain, I'll let Jeff lead the conversation there.

Jeff Strom (COO)

Yeah. Hey, this is Jeff. On the door side, that strategy is going well. I'll tell you, the acquisitions we made, the newer shops, they're growing, and you can see it. When you greenfield one as we have, it's a process, and it takes time, and they certainly are. You have the acquisitions, and they're obviously faster. You can see them growing. The legacy ones we have, they've picked up significantly. It's working just the way we want it.

George Staphos (Managing Director)

Okay. On tariffs and supply chain?

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Yes. George, yeah, I would say in tariffs, I would say overall for both for wood products and BMD, there is kind of limited impact. For us, it is a pretty defined risk both in wood products. Most of our production, as you know, is U.S.-based. That does not really represent an issue for us in wood products given the current environment today. For distribution, as you know, our philosophy overall is to, when we have to, pass along pricing changes or cost increases that we experience. Tariffs would represent a very similar theme as to anything else that we would think about there. Specific to, there are certain products, as you think about in our general line, many of our metal products are imported. In some cases, George, there are limited options on where you can pull those materials from.

I guess the good news here is we have some familiarity with the story just given the COVID issues in terms of the resiliency and kind of the redundancy in some cases with our supply chain. That remains part of our plan going forward. Relatively, the impact is very, very modest today. If anything, it would be general line just on some of those, again, kind of the metal products would be the area that we're currently focused.

George Staphos (Managing Director)

Thanks so much, Nate. Good luck in the quarter, guys.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thanks.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Jeff Stevenson of Loop Capital. Your line is now open.

Zack Pacheco (Equity Research Associate)

Hey, good morning, guys. This is actually Zack Pacheco on for Jeff this morning. Hey, how are you guys doing? Maybe to start, given the current pricing environment, can you just provide some more color specifically on how you're looking at LVL kind of through the remainder of the year, more on the volume side? I believe last quarter share gains were called out as a positive. Just curious if there's any update from a share gain perspective. Thanks.

Jeff Strom (COO)

Yeah. As Kelly mentioned, Q1, we were down 3%, not quite as much as the housing starts. He also referenced the fact that so far starting into Q2, we're starting to see LVL in particular actually start outpacing our production. We're starting to see our inventories come down there. As indicated, we're still looking for that seasonal bump in volumes that we've indicated in the chart. Nothing you got any more on that?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. No, I think Troy covered it pretty well. Other than, I guess, where I would add is that I think we have pretty consistently shown that our share of production as well as our volumes relative to single-family starts have looked very strong. We think that is very much a function of, one, having best-in-class products and best-in-class distribution tied together. We continue to believe that is the right approach.

Zack Pacheco (Equity Research Associate)

Understood. And then maybe just quickly on BMD, how attainable or how confident is the team on a sequential improvement in terms of EBITDA margins to at or above 5% in the next quarter, given the adverse weather you experienced in this quarter, or do you think softer residential demand fundamentals will continue to weigh on segment margins? Thanks.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Yeah, I feel good about, and I alluded to this a bit in my comments, that March, when we saw a more normal sales base, we got our EBITDA margins back to what you've seen in recent quarters, kind of that mid-5 range, if you will. Given where we've started in April and given the pace we've seen, we feel really good about our opportunity to, again, be in the mid-5s for second quarter. A couple of other comments here from Jo.

Jo Barney (EVP)

Yeah. Hi there. As far as competitive positioning in the market, I think we are set up really well. Our national footprint allows us to shift our volume into pockets of strength across the country. It also helps us to service the national dealers who want and need consistent service across the country. We are aligned with many of the big builders and the dealers and their strength in times of market weakness. At the same time, our decentralized model allows us to support and serve the local and regional dealers and builders as well and be flexible to their needs. We have great partnerships with our customers, with our suppliers. Our integrated model with manufacturing is a key part of driving our success.

Zack Pacheco (Equity Research Associate)

Makes sense. Thanks for the color.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Thank you, Zach.

Operator (participant)

As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Our next question comes from the line of Ketan Mamtora of BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Ketan Mamtora (Director of Building Products Equity Research)

Thank you and good morning. Perhaps to start with, on Q2 EWP volumes, and if I'm doing my math correctly here, it sounds like on I-joists, volumes would be down about double digits on a year-over-year basis. Kelly, can you talk about sort of puts and takes, what's kind of driving that sort of a pretty meaningful year-over-year decline in volumes?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. I think it's really just a function of housing starts last year versus the housing start assumption for this year, Ketan. It's really that. It's not, in my view, a loss of market share or a change in usage in terms of floor products. It's not that. It's really just a function of the underlying market conditions today.

Ketan Mamtora (Director of Building Products Equity Research)

I see. Okay. Got it. If I look at your inventories at the end of Q1 versus kind of your total inventories at the end of Q1 of last year, it is again up like, I do not know, 12%-13%, something in that range. Can you sort of talk to how you sort of feel about the overall level of inventories given sort of the housing backdrop, which has been sort of choppier? We have talked about things off to a slower than expected start.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Let me let Jeff kind of field that initially, the question around inventory and what we're seeing, what we're at here in the first quarter and relative to our expectations.

Jeff Strom (COO)

Hey, it's Jeff. Yeah. Our inventory position, feel good about it. When the winter buys came and opportunities for buys, we fully took advantage of that and leaned into that pretty heavily. We also look at it with the market that we're in right now. We know it is very much a distribution-friendly market, and people are relying on us. Our suppliers are relying on us to have it, and our customers are relying on us to have it and get them there on time. We have leaned into that and made sure that we're stocked and ready for that. On the dealer side of things, what we're seeing out there, without a doubt, it is lean overall. A couple of areas where it might be heavy if they leaned in for tariffs, but overall, it is lean, and people are relying on distribution, and we're ready to serve.

Ketan Mamtora (Director of Building Products Equity Research)

Understood. That's helpful color. Maybe last one for Nate. There's been a couple of transactions here recently, one on kind of one of your kind of supplier side and then one on the pro dealer side, pretty meaningful transactions. How do you sort of think about potential impact, if any, over the next several years here?

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Yeah. Good question, Ketan. I think when it comes to your point, some of the consolidation that has taken place, both upstream and downstream from Boise Cascade, that has been a theme here over the past number of years and certainly is continuing. Obviously, some important examples in front of us today. I think we are, I think, well-positioned in the marketplace and well-positioned with those relationships. I think the counsel that we continue to work internally and externally is we are going to stay really focused on the here and now and execute at a very high level for the benefit of both those suppliers and what our customers deserve and expect going forward. I think we are in a very important part of the equation for our suppliers, and we got to continue to earn that each and every day. Same with our customers.

The consolidation, those trends, those have been taking place. We expect those likely to take place going forward. That just really requires us to make sure that we're focused on executing at a very, very high level each and every day.

Ketan Mamtora (Director of Building Products Equity Research)

Got it. That's very helpful. Good luck.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Reuben Garner of Benchmark. Your line is now open.

Reuben Garner (Managing Director and Construction Research Analyst)

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Apologies if I repeat anything. I missed the first part of the call. Big picture question for you. Correct me if I'm looking at this wrong, but I think the volume for I-joists and LVL has kind of round-tripped back to pre-2020 levels for you guys. On a higher level of start, is the difference between what you would have seen back then and today size and type of homes, or is there some other dynamic? Are you guys thinking about your volume versus your price differently than maybe you did five or six years ago? Just any color there would be helpful.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Yeah. Rueben, it's Nate. That's a good question. I think in terms of what we're experiencing, I don't think it's anything in terms of kind of change at I-joists versus maybe open web or dimensional lumber. There can be some around the edges. I think much of that is probably around maybe home size and the home footprint and also where that construction, where that start resides. In some examples, for example, if you're in a market like Phoenix, it's a slab-on-grade market, single-story construction. That represents a much different opportunity than compared to Denver, Colorado, as an example, where typically two-story construction with a basement.

I think in terms of where that start resides and the strength that we've seen in the Sunshine States, the Floridas and Texas and Arizona, yeah, I think that's been a contributing factor in terms of what that real floor opportunity represents for I-joists and framing materials here today in 2025.

Reuben Garner (Managing Director and Construction Research Analyst)

Nate, as that relates to price, I mean, your pricing is still up nicely since then. I'm sure you have a ton of areas of inflation in your own regard. How do we think about just kind of downside from here, given where the volume environment is? What does the supply or capacity utilization for the industry look like today versus maybe what it did in that period five, six years ago?

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Yeah. Capacity realization today for the first quarter, for us, we ran at a pretty strong rate given the environment. We were kind of between 75%-80%. In April, we were above that level. It was probably low 80s. I do not have 2019 still in my memory bank, but I think our operating rate relative to the demand environment today, we feel good about. Again, having the connection between manufacturing and distribution is important.

Reuben Garner (Managing Director and Construction Research Analyst)

Great. Thanks, guys. Good luck in this coming quarter.

Kelly Hibbs (CFO)

Thank you, Reuben.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Thanks, Rueben.

Operator (participant)

I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn it back to Nate Jorgensen, CEO, for closing remarks.

Nate Jorgensen (CEO)

Great. Thanks. We appreciate everyone joining us this morning for our update and earnings call. Thank you for your continued interest and support of Boise Cascade. Be safe and be well. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the program. You may now disconnect.