Rayonier Inc., a forest products company, said fourth-quarter earnings slid 2 percent on lower wood products sales, hurt by weak prices.

Rayonier, which owns forest land, makes specialty fibers and operates real estate holdings, said net income slipped to $55.3 million, or 71 cents per share, from $56.4 million, or 73 cents per share, last year.

Income from continuing operations fell to $50 million, or 64 cents per share.

The latest quarter included a tax gain of $3.7 million, or 5 cents per share; a year ago, the gain was $30.1 million, or 39 cents per share.

Stripping out the gain, the company earned 59 cents per share in the quarter. Analysts, whose estimates exclude one-time gains, were looking for profit of 45 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Sales rose 4 percent to $328.5 million from $315.9 million last year, and topped Wall Street’s target of $310.5 million in revenue. Wood products sales fell by more than half to $21 million, hurt by weak prices.

For the year, income fell to $176.4 million, or $2.26 per share, despite 4 percent higher sales of $1.23 billion.

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