La-Z-Boy Shares Tank After Earnings Miss

Shares of La-Z-Boy Inc. fell more than 15% late Tuesday after the furniture maker reported fiscal first-quarter 2018 earnings and sales below Wall Street expectations and Chief Executive Kurt L. Darrow said the company was "disappointed" with the results. La-Z-Boy said it earned $11.7 million, or 24 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $13.8 million, or 28 cents a share, in last year's first quarter. Sales rose 5% to $357.1 million, from $340.8 million in last year's first quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 29 cents a share on sales of $358 million. Much of the consolidated sales increase in the quarter "related to acquired sales which did not add volume to our upholstery manufacturing operations," the company's most profitable segment, Darrow said in a statement. "Lower volume throughout our plants made it difficult to absorb fixed costs and this, combined with the normal seasonal slowdown and continued investments across the business, impacted our upholstery operating margin for the period," and expenses increased in the quarter, he said. Shares had ended the regular trading session up 0.3%.