News · Clearwater Paper Corporation (CLW) · Basic Materials

Clearwater Paper rises after scheduling Q3 results and conference call

Session of October 13, 2026 · Published October 14, 2026 · 3 min read

What happened

Clearwater Paper (CLW) rose 4.9% on October 13, 2026, after the company said it would report third-quarter 2026 results on October 26 and hold a conference call, Business Wire reported. The stock closed at $19.59 after opening 1.3% above the previous close, with trading volume 1.2 times its 20-day average. The gain outpaced the Basic Materials sector median by 4.4 percentage points and came on a day the S&P 500 was unchanged, suggesting the move was largely company-specific and tied to the scheduled results and investor focus on upcoming guidance.

Closing price over the last 30 trading sessions. On October 13, 2026, CLW closed at $19.59, up 4.9% on the day and 5.7% lower than 30 sessions earlier.

How big was the move

The 4.9% one-day rise was 1.4 times a typical daily move for this stock, indicating an above-normal reaction to company news. It beat the Basic Materials sector median, which rose 0.6% on the day, while the S&P 500 held flat. Over the last five sessions the market fell 0.2% and the stock fell 1.2%, reflecting modest recent weakness despite the session’s pop. Market sensitivity is modest, with a beta of 0.89, meaning the stock tends to move less than the broader market.

Each bar is one day's price change; the outlined bar is October 13, 2026. A typical daily move over the past year was 3.3%, so the latest move equals 1.5 times that. Moves outside the dashed lines (about 6.6%) are unusual.

The technical picture

Technically, the stock traded 2.5% below its 20-day moving average and 6.1% below its 50-day moving average, yet remained 14.1% above its 200-day moving average. The 50-day average is above the 200-day average, a sign of an established uptrend, and the stock has spent 57 consecutive trading days above its 200-day average. Shorter-term momentum looked neutral: the Relative Strength Index (14 days) stood at 46, inside the 30 to 70 range. The shares were 17.0% below the 52-week high, had fallen 6.3% over one month, risen 26.6% over three months and risen 4.6% over one year, leaving performance 14.5 percentage points behind the S&P 500 over the year. Volatility was 56% annualized over 60 days, which is higher than 78% of its own readings over five years, suggesting recent price swings are elevated relative to its history.

Closing price over the past year. CLW ends the period 16.0% below its 52-week high, below its 50-day average ($20.87) and above its 200-day average ($17.16).

Fundamentals and valuation

For the four quarters through June 30, 2026, Clearwater Paper reported revenue of $1.52 billion, a decline of 1.9% from a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share for that period were $-3.04, while gross margin narrowed to 1.6% from 8.0% a year earlier. Operating margin improved to 3.5% from 0.4% a year earlier and free-cash-flow margin was 3.7%. Return on invested capital was 3.2%. The balance sheet showed net debt of 25.1 times EBITDA and the company’s share count over one year decreased by 0.7%.

Quarterly revenue by period end. The latest quarter brought $375M, 4.3% less than the same quarter a year earlier.

Investors may weigh the company’s thin margins and elevated leverage against a free-cash-flow yield of 18.5%. PromtFinance scores within the sector highlight that Value 67 (Positive) and Momentum 70 (Positive) contrast with weak readings for Growth 5 (Very weak), Quality 11 (Very weak), Revisions 9 (Very weak) and Stability 17 (Very weak). The mixed profile suggests near-term price strength is supported by market sentiment even as underlying business metrics, including profitability and financial stability, remain challenging.

Earnings and analyst expectations

Business Wire said the company scheduled a release of third-quarter 2026 results on Monday, October 26, 2026, after the market close, and that CEO Arsen Kitch and CFO Sherri Baker will host a conference call and webcast at 2 p.m. Pacific Time that day. Calendar data lists the next report as October 27, 2026.

Diluted earnings per share by quarter. The latest quarter shows -$1.33, against $0.17 in the same quarter a year earlier.

In its last report, on July 28, 2026, Clearwater Paper posted earnings per share of $-1.75 against $-1.49 expected, 17.4% below estimates. The company has zero consecutive quarters beating estimates, though its average surprise over the last four reports was 0.9% above estimates. The typical two-day reaction after recent reports was that the stock rose 0.8%. Given the recent miss, investors are likely to focus on margin trends, free cash flow and any commentary on debt levels and capital allocation during the upcoming call.

What to watch

October 26, 2026: Clearwater Paper will release third-quarter 2026 results after the market close and host a conference call at 2 p.m. Pacific Time, according to Business Wire
October 27, 2026: the company’s next report is scheduled
Consensus price target: $19.33, which is 1.3% below the closing price
Analysts with ratings: 11, with 55% of ratings positive and a consensus rating of Buy
Market value: $305.9 million

Full CLW analysis: scores, chart and financials →