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What: Shares of flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. (LL -0.67%) slumped as much as 12.5% today after the company reported second-quarter earnings. At 3:15 p.m. EDT shares were still down 9.7%.
So what: Sales fell 4% to $238.1 million, including a 7.2% decline in comparable-store sales. Net loss improved from $20.3 million a year ago to $12.2 million, or $0.45 per share. But analysts were expecting a $0.22-per-share loss, so the results didn't impress investors.
Management said that it didn't have to discount as hard last quarter, resulting in gross margin increasing from 25.1% a year ago to 29.7%. But with fewer customers coming into stores, it's still an uphill battle to reach a profit on the bottom line.
Now what: Investors don't quite know what to make of Lumber Liquidators today, given customers' trepidation in coming back to the brand. No matter whether it hit expectations or not, a 7.2% decline in same-store sales is terrible for any company. Until that trend turns around and Lumber Liquidators starts posting a profit, I'll be watching this stock from the sidelines. And given the damage done in the past year, I'm not sure the company will ever fully recover.
