Zacks Equity Research announced yesterday it has upgraded its recommendation for Michigan-based Universal Forest Products Inc. (UFPI) from Underperform to a Neutral rating. Zacks says despite far reaching effects on businesses worldwide due to the recent global economic meltdown, UFPI is making constant efforts to align its cost with business activities. Zacks says UFPI has focused on new products, business diversification and new customer additions and looks forward to better results for its retail building material unit. The firm also says UFPI’s manufactured housing businesses will benefit from the addition of products and expansion of distribution capacities. In the third quarter 2011 UFPI reported a 123 percent year-over-year increase in earnings per share that overshadowed the 2.4 percent year-over-year decline in revenue.
