La-Z-Boy Profit Falls Amid Marginal Sales Growth; Stock Down - Update

(RTTNews) - Home furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc (LZB), Tuesday reported a decline in fourth-quarter profit, hurt mainly by restructuring charges and a loss from discontinued operations, while sales were up marginally. Nonetheless, earnings topped Wall Street estimates by a penny, but revenues fell short of expectations.

La-Z-Boy, which had announced restructuring measures, said while it expects the strategic initiatives to deliver growth, there exists uncertainties over the economy, especially for housing.

The company also will shut down its plants for one week in the current quarter amid seasonal weakness in the furniture industry.

Following the announcement, La-Z-Boy shares plunged nine percent in after-hours trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Monroe, Michigan-based La-Z-Boy posted fourth-quarter net earnings of $12 million or $0.23 per share, compared with $18 million or $0.33 per share last year.

Results for the quarter include $2 million loss from discontinued operations and $3 million of restructuring charges.

Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.33 per share. On average, six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.32 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the fourth quarter grew 2 percent to $353 million from $345.8 million a year ago, while analysts estimated $368 million.

Same-store written sales for the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store network fell 0.9 percent for the quarter, compared with an 11.2 percent growth in the prior year.

In April, La-Z-Boy indicated restructuring its casegoods business, which represents about 10 percent of revenue, by transitioning to an all-import model for its wood furniture. The company will discontinue casegoods production at its Hudson, North Carolina facility during the second quarter of fiscal 2015. It will also exit the hospitality business which is also manufactured at the Hudson facility.

LZB closed Tuesday at $24.84, up $1.21 or 5.12%, on a volume of 1 million shares. In after hours, the stock dropped $2.29 or 9.22% at $22.55.