La-Z-Boy Clients On Recliners Instead of Shopping (LZB, STLY, ETH)

It’s of no surprise when you see a furniture maker or anything at all tied to "in home buying" very weak.  But some of these sell-offs go from mild, to bad, to outright atrocious.  Enter La-Z-Boy Inc. (NYSE:LZB).  La-Z-Boy shares are down another 1% today at $5.40, and the 52-week trading range is $5.46 to $15.20.  The maker of the good old recliner isn’t immune from a weak housing and consumer discretionary spending environment.  Despite there being a very soft environment, La-Z-Boy’s books are actually in decent shape even after its revenue warning last month.  It would seem that this company could easily trim costs to keep the bottom line better. 

This was briefly a $30 stock in 2002, and it has again been cut in half since this summer.  How far back on the chart do you have to go before you find these recent stock prices? The early 1990’s.  Other furniture makers are in the same negative spending environment soup:

• Stanley Furniture Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:STLY) shares are $10.92, under its $10.98 to $23.74 range over the last 52-weeks.
• Even on a positive day for the stock higher-end furniture maker Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) up 2.6% at $29.31 is at the lower-end of its $27.46 to $39.56 trading range over the last 52-weeks.

Jon C. Ogg
December 3, 2007