What happened
Shares of La-Z-Boy Incorporated (LZB -0.57%) were up 12.6% as of 1:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday after the furniture producer announced strong fiscal first-quarter 2019 results.
Quarterly revenue climbed 7.7% year over year to $384.7 million, which translated to a more than 60% increase in earnings per share to $0.39. Analysts, on average, were only anticipating EPS of $0.25 on revenue of $368 million.
Image source: La-Z-Boy.
So what
CEO Kurt Darrow said: "We had an excellent start to fiscal 2019, with strong results across the business. In addition to sales increases across all three operating segments, the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store network delivered its sixth consecutive quarterly increase in written same-store sales."
More specifically, same-store sales for the company-owned retail segment grew 4.6%, while written same-store sales at La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries jumped 3.1%.
Now what
Subsequent to the end of the quarter, La-Z-Boy also announced agreements to acquire Joybird, a leading upholstered furniture e-commerce retailer, as well as nine La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries in Arizona. Both purchases should close early in the current second quarter of fiscal 2019.
Darrow added that the company is optimistic about its long-term potential (with the caveat that potential duties and tariffs on imported furniture fabrics still threaten future performance.) Given that optimism and its outperformance relative to expectations this quarter, it's no surprise to see the stock rallying today in response.
