A Stock for Dad: La-Z-Boy

This is part of The Motley Fool's annual "Stocks for Dad" special (Father's Day is June 15). If Dad is a steak eater, be sure to check back for tomorrow's stock idea.

La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB)
Trading at $22.50 as of June 10, 2003

Dad works hard. He taught us everything we know about fixing cars, home improvement, and how to balance a beer while mowing the lawn. For that, he deserves some respect. He deserves a day set aside to honor him. He deserves his paper and his slippers. He deserves... his own chair. Yes, his own chair.

Not just any chair, mind you. He deserves to read his paper in the most comfortable, reclinable, duct-tapable chair ever to host a Dad. He deserves a La-Z-Boy(NYSE: LZB). You know what I'm talking about here. At this very moment, you can envision Dad in his favorite chair, slippers on, TV Guide in one hand, clicking the "clicker" with the other. Dad loves his chair. No matter how many times Mom sneaks it out to the trash heap in the middle of the night, it always finds its way back into the formal living room the next morning.

All this is why Dad will love an investment in La-Z-Boy stock. As you probably know, La-Z-Boy has taken this whole chair thing to another level. We're talking recliners with telephones and coolers stashed in the arms. These folks aren't playing around.

When it comes to the numbers, La-Z-Boy won't wilt under the glare of Dad's ever-watchful eye. This maker of home furnishings has been anything but lazy (you know I had to say it). In the face of slowing sales and foreign competition, it's actually managed to increase profits through cost controls and fatter margins. In other words, these Lazy boys and girls are making more with less.

The firm continues to trim costs in order to remain competitive, closing manufacturing facilities at two plants and cutting 480 jobs last week. The decision led to a $10 million restructuring charge, but will save the company between $5 million and $6 million annually.

The furniture lord has a healthy balance sheet, carrying very little debt, and also churns out a sizable amount of free cash flow each quarter. Further, it is yielding nearly 2%, meaning Dad will get paid twice the current money market rate while the shares climb.

Of course, Dad is a bargain hunter (read: cheapskate). Let's face it, a man who's willing to give himself a conniption trying to squeeze that last drop of toothpaste from the tube, or who drives Mom mad because he won't get a new bar of soap until he's lathering up with something the size of a sugar cube, is not going to pay the going rate for anything.

Fear not, at just 13 times this year's earnings, and 16 times trailing free cash flow, La-Z-Boy won't break the bank. For those Dads who just can't bring themselves to pour out all their cash at once, the company also has a dividend reinvestment plan that allows optional cash payments for purchase of additional shares.

Though not quite a value stock, La-Z-Boy shares represent a solid trade for any dad, and should add quite a bit of comfort to his battered portfolio. Be sure to remind him of this the next time Mom spends all "his" money on bath salts instead of tools.

It's Stock Up for Summer month on Fool.com. Make a splash with your investing cash!

Mathew Emmert's Dad is his best friend, and taught him everything he knows. Actually, he taught him more than he knows, but Mathew forgot some of it because he has a short attention span. He doesn't own shares in La-Z-Boy, but if you'd like to see what he does own, check out his profile.

A Stock for Dad represents the opinion of one Fool and should in no way be taken as the opinion of either The Motley Fool, Inc. or the company in question, or as representative of anyone or anything other than that specific Fool's thoughts.