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what it is
RYAM turns wood pulp into specialty ingredients, paperboard, and pulp products used in pharma, packaging, filters, and printing.
how it gets paid
Last year Rayonier Advanced made $1.5B in revenue. cellulose specialties was the main engine at $0.68B, or 45% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 10.1% last year. The 7.8% gross margin mattered most because revenue can jump and still not help you if almost none of it turns into profit.
what just happened
Revenue hit $1.0B, but the quarter still showed ugly profitability with EPS at -$6.01 and gross margin at 7.8%.
At a glance
C balance sheet — red flag territory — real financial stress
15/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
2.4% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$0.12 fy2024 eps est
$2B fy2024 rev est
xvary composite: 30/100 — weak
What they do
RYAM turns wood pulp into specialty ingredients, paperboard, and pulp products used in pharma, packaging, filters, and printing.
RYAM wins where purity matters more than hype. Its specialty cellulose goes into products like pharmaceutical additives and LCD materials, and those customers do not casually swap suppliers when a formula depends on consistency. The company runs 4 production facilities across the U.S., Canada, and France, which gives you real industrial footprint even if the returns are weak at 2.4% return on capital.
How they make money
$1.5B
annual revenue · their business grew -10.1% last year
cellulose specialties
$0.68B
8.0%
commodity cellulose
$0.23B
14.0%
paperboard
$0.32B
6.0%
high-yield pulp
$0.20B
12.0%
other materials
$0.07B
10.1%
The products that matter
specialty cellulose production
High Purity Cellulose
$1.3B · 87% of mix shown
This is the business that matters. It produced $1.3B and 87% of the segment mix shown here, but last quarter volume fell 4% even after a 4% price increase. Revenue held up. Demand quality did not.
core segment
packaging-grade paperboard
Paperboard & Packaging
$0.2B · 13% of mix shown
This segment contributed about $0.2B and was flat. The catch: it is too small to bail out the cellulose business if that larger segment keeps wobbling.
secondary segment
Key numbers
$784M
long-term debt
That debt load is larger than the company's roughly $757 million market cap, which tells you leverage is the whole story here.
0.3%
operating margin
Jargon → operating margin → leftover profit from operations → so what: RYAM has almost no cushion if prices or volumes slip.
$1.5B
annual revenue
EDGAR says revenue was $1.5 billion, down 10.1% vs. prior year, so this is still a shrinking top line story.
2.4%
return on capital
Jargon → return on capital → profit earned on the money tied up in the business → so what: this is a low-return industrial asset today.
Financial health
C
strength
- balance sheet grade C — very weak — significant financial distress
- risk rank 5 — safer than 5% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $784M (51% of capital)
C — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for RYAM right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $1.0B, but the quarter still showed ugly profitability with EPS at -$6.01 and gross margin at 7.8%.
EDGAR showed a 197% vs. prior year revenue jump in the latest quarter, but gross margin was only 7.8%, which is the quiet part said out loud. Contrast frame: big sales, tiny margin. also showed FY2024 EPS at -$0.12 after Q4 EPS of -$0.11.
$1.0B
revenue
$6.01
eps
7.8%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The 7.8% gross margin mattered most because revenue can jump and still not help you if almost none of it turns into profit.
source: EDGAR and, latest reported quarter / FY2024
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What could go wrong
RYAM does not need a perfect year. It does need the core cellulose business to stop translating price gains into weak cash outcomes.
med
cash burn meets debt load
RYAM burned $88M of free cash flow in 2025 while carrying $784M of long-term debt, equal to 51% of capital. That is the kind of math that turns a rough year into a financing problem.
If 2026 does not turn cash-positive, management gets fewer options and the equity gets less room for a clean recovery story.
med
price up, volume down is not a real fix
Last quarter, price increased 4% but volume fell 4% in the core business. That helps headline revenue, but it does not tell you demand has stabilized.
If volume keeps sliding, the turnaround becomes a short-term pricing story instead of a durable earnings recovery.
med
leadership turnover hits the segment that matters most
A new CEO arrived in January 2026, and the senior leader of High Purity Cellulose left in the same month. Turnarounds are hard enough with stable operators. This one does not have that luxury.
Execution risk is concentrated in the largest business line, which raises the odds that another messy quarter lands before the repair plan does.
The key insight: $88M of cash burn against $784M of long-term debt means one more bad year would matter far more than the headline revenue number.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
2026 free cash flow
Management said 2026 should deliver solid positive free cash flow. If that does not happen, the turnaround thesis weakens fast. That's the number that matters most right now.
trend
High Purity Cellulose volume
A 4% price increase did not stop a 4% volume decline last quarter. You want to see volume stabilize, not just pricing hold up for one more quarter.
calendar
Q1 2026 EPS setup
Analysts are looking for $0.09 in Q1 2026 EPS. If the company misses that early bar, you should assume the operating reset started from a weaker base than hoped.
risk
the new CEO's first priorities
Scott Sutton inherited high debt and weak cash flow. Watch what gets attention first: cost discipline, asset performance, or balance-sheet repair. The order tells you how urgent the problem is internally.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
15 / 100
Low predictability means the reported numbers can swing hard from expectations. In human-speak, analysts do not have a clean read on this business because the business itself is not behaving cleanly yet.
risk rank
5
This stock is safer than only 5% of names in the ranking set. That is not a cushion. That is a warning label.
price stability
5 / 100
Price stability this low means the stock does not trade like a steady industrial. It trades like a thesis that keeps getting repriced.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for RYAM is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$6
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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