When Box Springs No Longer Spring

It's been a rough week for mattress maker Sealy (NYSE: ZZ). Investors took a hit on Tuesday, even as most of the market rallied. Then the company cranked out a troublesome quarterly report, sending its stock down another 8% yesterday.

Sealy's fiscal second-quarter numbers are nightmares on Wall Street. Sales fell by 6.6% to $375.4 million, spanked by a 16% decline in domestic unit sales. Earnings fell to $0.13 a share, after last year's showing of $0.17, but would have actually clocked in at $0.08 if not for a one-time reserves-related benefit. Business may be healthy abroad, but the end result is still a bottom-line disaster. Higher material costs are tough to pass on to penny-pinching consumers.

Sealy's numbers are even worse than the company's first-quarter financials, and they seemed so bleak that the company suspended its dividend.

Sealy isn't alone. Niche bedding makers Tempur-Pedic (NYSE: TPX) and Select Comfort (Nasdaq: SCSS) have taken their lumps, too. We're just not in a rush to upgrade our mattresses, and apparently the economic stimulus checks that have been going out since May are tackling lumpier issues.

Other companies that rely on residential furnishings, like Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG), La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB), and Ethan Allen Interiors (NYSE: ETH) -- especially big-ticket items -- will be pressed to perform in this very difficult environment.

Whatever you do, just don't tell Sealy investors to "sleep on it," because they already have. It's a bed of nails that apparently isn't going to get smoother until the economy rights its wrongs.

Other ways that the bedbugs bite:

• Sleepy Days for Sealy
• Sleep Apnea at Sealy