Rayonier upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded Rayonier (RYN) to Strong Buy from Outperform with a price target of $28, up from $26. Post-merger, Rayonier controls over 4.1M acres of U.S. forestry, a strong balance sheet, and roughly $300M available for accretive share repurchases, while also acquiring Potlatch’s top-10 U.S. lumber platform and various land- and carbon-related ventures currently unpriced by the market, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Lumber prices appear to have bottomed, supply remains constrained, and the timberland assets offer a finite, inflation-protected store of value with cash flow upside, the firm adds.