Manufacturer of upholstered recliners and other furniture La-Z-Boy (LZB -0.57%) reported its fiscal 2020 fourth quarter and full year results today, revealing it has beaten analyst predictions on some metrics and come in lower than expected on others. During the fiscal year's final quarter, La-Z-Boy saw the coronavirus pandemic cut deeply into its sales, slashing the total by -19.1% year over year as sales added up to just $367.3 million.
Though store and factory closures due to coronavirus took a heavy toll, the company has struggled with revenue for some time prior to the pandemic. According to Zacks Equity Research, La-Z-Boy has fallen short of analyst consensus revenue predictions for four straight quarters in a row. Its fourth quarter 2020 revenue is 6.16% below what Wall Street anticipated.
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Earnings per share, or EPS, provided a somewhat sunnier result despite the overall COVID-19 slump. Where analysts looked for adjusted EPS of $0.31, the furniture maker beat expectations instead, posting $0.49 EPS and thus delivering a positive surprise of 58%. It has produced positive surprises for three of the last four reported quarters.
In remarks accompanying the earnings report, La-Z-Boy Chairman, President, and CEO Kurt Darrow spoke about the company's recovery, saying, "Moving forward, furniture retailers and La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores have reopened and we are seeing strong early demand. Our manufacturing facilities have ramped from zero production at the end of April and are moving toward 80% of prior-year production as we head into July."
La-Z-Boy's shares ended the day's trading up slightly and climbed slowly after hours.
