Stocks · Basic Materials · Paper, Lumber & Forest Products
Clearwater Paper Corporation CLW
$19.81 +1.85% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $319.5M
High risk
Next earnings report: Oct 27, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Net debt is 25.1× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 50 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $1.52B, down 1.9% from a year earlier, slowing from 2.3% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Basic Materials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 20%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 19%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 15%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 25%
- Gross marginBottom 7%
- Operating marginBottom 20%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 24%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 4%
- Interest coverBottom 16%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 14%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 2%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 28%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 2%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 38%
- 6-month returnTop 8%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 41%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 22%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 25%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 43%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 21%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 45%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 7%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 32%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 11%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 41%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 4%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 2.3% | -1.9% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 8.0% | 1.6% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 0.4% | -3.5% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | -11.7% | 3.7% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -1.9% | 2.3% | ↓ | Bottom 20% |
| Gross margin | 1.6% | 8.0% | ↓ | Bottom 7% |
| Operating margin | -3.5% | 0.4% | ↓ | Bottom 20% |
| Net margin | -3.2% | -6.8% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 3.7% | -11.7% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -3.2% | — | Bottom 25% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -9.2% | — | Bottom 19% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -10.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +0.1 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 25.07×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -2.7×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.69%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.69%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.7%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -1.7%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 28, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +0.9%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.8%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $19.33
- Target vs current price
- -2.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 11
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 55%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | -17.4% | +1.7% | +29.1% | +23.5% | — |
| Apr 28, 2026 | +2.3% | +1.6% | -12.5% | -1.8% | +12.2% |
| Feb 18, 2026 | +15.2% | +2.3% | -13.2% | -19.5% | -18.4% |
| Oct 28, 2025 | +3.8% | -0.4% | -6.6% | -12.6% | -5.0% |
| Jul 29, 2025 | +141.5% | -0.2% | -25.0% | -26.7% | -33.0% |
| Apr 29, 2025 | -311.8% | +2.2% | +6.4% | +23.9% | +22.2% |
| Feb 13, 2025 | -254.5% | +1.4% | +0.6% | -19.9% | -5.5% |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -320.7% | -2.6% | +4.8% | +4.9% | +24.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 28, 2026 | -$1.75 | -$1.49 | -17.4% | $374.8M |
| Apr 28, 2026 | -$1.29 | -$1.32 | +2.3% | $360.3M |
| Feb 18, 2026 | -$0.42 | -$0.50 | +15.2% | $386.4M |
| Oct 28, 2025 | -$0.51 | -$0.53 | +3.8% | $399.0M |
| Jul 29, 2025 | $0.22 | -$0.53 | +141.5% | $391.8M |
| Apr 29, 2025 | -$0.36 | $0.17 | -311.8% | $378.2M |
| Feb 13, 2025 | -$1.17 | -$0.33 | -254.5% | $387.1M |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -$0.64 | $0.29 | -320.7% | $393.3M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 55.2× | — | — | Bottom 28% |
| EV / Sales | 0.38× | — | — | Top 2% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 17.72% | — | — | Top 2% |
| Earnings yield | -15.35% | — | — | Bottom 14% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 5.5× – 105.8× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 50
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +9.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -5.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +15.7%
- RSI (14)
- 44.2
- Relative volume
- 0.74×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 56.2%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 81th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.92
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.27
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -15.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -77.8%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 26, 2024 | Mar 20, 2026 | -77.8% | 413 days | Not yet recovered |
| Feb 12, 2021 | Apr 11, 2022 | -41.8% | 292 days | 85 days (Aug 12, 2022) |
| Aug 17, 2022 | Jun 23, 2023 | -36.0% | 213 days | 218 days (May 6, 2024) |
| Oct 12, 2020 | Nov 9, 2020 | -22.4% | 20 days | 39 days (Jan 6, 2021) |
| May 31, 2024 | Jul 5, 2024 | -13.8% | 23 days | 11 days (Jul 22, 2024) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $319.5M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$3.04
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.52B
- 52-week range
- $11.73 – $23.59
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.77B | $2.08B | $1.14B | $1.38B | $1.56B |
| Gross profit | $182.6M | $256.7M | $200.7M | $76.1M | $115.6M |
| Operating income | $12.0M | $122.0M | $177.1M | -$41.0M | $12.2M |
| Net income | -$28.1M | $46.0M | $107.7M | -$110.9M | -$18.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$1.67 | $2.68 | $6.30 | -$6.61 | -$1.15 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $393.3M | $387.1M | $378.2M | $391.8M | $399.0M | $386.4M | $360.3M | $374.8M |
| Net income | $5.9M | -$108.0M | -$6.3M | $2.7M | -$53.3M | $38.3M | -$12.8M | -$21.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.35 | -$6.44 | -$0.38 | $0.17 | -$3.30 | $2.39 | -$0.80 | -$1.33 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $96.4M | $150.2M | $190.7M | $61.4M | $12,300 |
| Capital expenditure | -$38.4M | -$33.5M | -$73.7M | -$116.6M | -$88,800 |
| Free cash flow | $58.0M | $116.7M | $117.0M | -$55.2M | -$76,500 |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.7M | -$5.0M | -$17.9M | -$10.0M | -$17.2M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $95.4M
- Total assets
- $1.57B
- Total liabilities
- $777.3M
- Total debt
- $361.1M
- Net debt
- $265.7M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $794.1M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 28, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 683,778
- Days to cover
- 5.77
- Change vs previous report
- +9.7%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Aug 29, 2011
- 2-for-1