LOUISIANA-PACIFIC CORP (LPX) — payout ratio, three ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Materials · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 13.5% | A single year's earnings for a commodity producer can be several times the through-cycle average. This ratio computed in a trough looks alarming and in a peak looks trivial; neither describes whether the dividend is affordable across a cycle. |
| Operating cash flow | 20.4% | Worse than the earnings figure, not better: operating cash flow absorbs working capital — inventory, receivables, payables — that earnings do not. |
| Free cash flow | 85.7% | The most honest single-year figure here, because it nets out the capital spending that commodity producers cut hard in a downturn — which is also why it flatters a trough year. |
Spread between highest and lowest: 72 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 10 / 100 — Not covered. ? Peer standing 10/50Direction 0/30Stability 0/20
Free cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 85.7% |
| 2024-12-31 | 17.5% |
| 2023-12-31 | 431.2% |
| 2022-12-31 | 9.5% |
| 2021-12-31 | 5.4% |
| 2020-12-31 | 11.1% |
Coverage worsened sharply this year, 17.5% to 85.7%, after no clear trend before it. One year is not a trend, but it is worth knowing which direction the last one moved.
Among the 36 materials companies here, only 19% pay out a larger share on this basis — this is at the demanding end.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $0.28 ÷ diluted EPS $2.08
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $78.0m ÷ operating cash flow $382.0m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $78.0m ÷ (operating cash flow $382.0m − capex $291.0m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-17 · accession
0000060519-26-000012
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- DPS $0.28 filed as paid, but dividends paid imply $1.11 — one of the two underlying facts is wrong. The filed per-share figure is used.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.