VRS - Clearwater Paper plunges after Verso-BillerundKorsnas deal

Clearwater Paper Corp. (CLW -10.9%) shares drop after BMO Capital Markets downgrades the stock to Market Perform from Outperform following the acquisition of Verso Corporation (NYSE:VRS) by BillerudKorsnas. BK plans to convert "several" Verso machines to packaging board over the coming months and would add a physical manufacturing footprint in North America. "Among the NA producers, we think Clearwater has the most to lose," says analyst Mark Wilde. "CLW has a large and profitable bleached paperboard franchise selling to nonintegrated converters that has been a more stable earnings stream than CLW’s tissue operations. That business will be straight in Billerud’s crosshairs." Read details on the BillerudKorsnas-Verso deal.

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Clearwater Paper plunges after Verso-BillerundKorsnas deal