RYAM: Distress Mispriced, Strong Buy at $10 PT

We initiate on RYAM with a Strong Buy rating & $10 PT. RYAM is a global producer of high-purity

cellulose & specialty polymers used in applications ranging from pharmaceuticals & LCDs to personal care & advanced packaging. The disconnect between current sentiment and Fwd fundamentals creates rare asymmetry in RYAM: instead of consensus fixation on recent tariff fallout and near-term volume contraction, investors overlook a pivotally-recovery already in play underneath. Market consensus hysterically fixates on $40m top-line cash drag from retaliatory tariffs + temporary Chinese destock drags rather than on resilience of RYAM's specialty cellulose platform (end-markets from food ingredients to bio-based plastics, where secular demand trends remain strikingly robust, [futuremarketinsights.com]). We can't believe the present distressed 0.10x EV/Sales multiple (-85% disct to hist & peer benchmarks) can last, given: 1) rapid normalization in pulp & specialty demand by FY26E; 2) visible margin improvements from asset discipline & bio's ramp; 3) mgmt's balance sheet rebuild (net debt only $101m). We anchor our $10 PT off a conservative 0.35x FY26E EV/Sales multiple, one that captures the near-term disruptions but embeds: 1) episodic leverage to an industry-wide cyclical upturn; 2) RYAM's differentiated optionality from bioethanol & lignin expansion. To be clear: if China tariffs widen to specialty cellulose (a street debate we track closely), downside risk emerges but with RYAM priced for distress, incremental fundamental deterioration comes fully reflected. All in, this is textbook skew: downside firmly contained, upside steep even with modest top-line normalization. For patient capital sensitive to cyclical