Zacks Industry Rank Analysis Highlights: Clearwater Paper, Neenah Paper, Universal Forest Products and International Paper

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 17, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Clearwater Paper (CLW - Snapshot Report), Neenah Paper (NP - Snapshot Report), Universal Forest Products (UFPI - Analyst Report) and International Paper (IP - Analyst Report).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Dirk Van Dijk, CFA, Chief Equity Strategist for Zacks.com.

Paper Profits & the Right Chemistry

In evaluating the Zacks Industry Ranks, you want to see two things -- a good overall score (low, meaning more Zacks Rank #1 and 2 stocks than #4 or 5 ranked stocks) and some improvement the relative position from the prior week.

One industry that looks promising right now based on the Zacks Rank is Paper. It is currently in 18th place overall out of 205 industries ranked, and it climbed five spots this week. The average Zacks rank for the group is 2.35. With a total of 17 firms in the group, that is a very impressive average. Normally, the bigger the group in terms of the number of companies, the more the group average will be close to 3.00 (hence the sectors shown below all range between 2.73 and 3.21).

Some of the firms of note in those groups that have earned the coveted Zacks Rank #1 are: Clearwater Paper (CLW - Snapshot Report), Neenah Paper (NP - Snapshot Report) and Universal Forest Products (UFPI - Analyst Report). All three of those are small caps. Investors looking for a larger name might consider #2 ranked International Paper (IP - Analyst Report).

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Contact: Dirk Van Dijk, CFA
Company: Zacks.com
Phone: 312-265-9211
Email: pr@zacks.com
Visit: www.zacks.com

Read the full analyst report on CLW

Read the full analyst report on NP

Read the full analyst report on UFPI

Read the full analyst report on IP