Tough year for stocks
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, January 6, 2008
High Point — Most furniture industry stocks took a beating in 2007 as the investment community shunned the slump-ridden category.
Of the 38 furniture-related stocks tracked by Furniture/Today, 31 lost ground during 2007, including 24 whose prices declined more than 20%.
Seventeen stocks registered price declines of more than 30% and seven fell more than 50%.
The Furniture/Today stock index, which includes 21 U.S. manufacturers and retailers whose businesses center on residential furniture, dropped 24.9%. The Dow Jones Industrials and NASDAQ Industrials, by contrast, registered single-digit gains for the year.
On the bright side, six of the seven stocks that gained ground in 2007 were up at least 16%. The biggest gainer, Canadian ready-to-assemble producer Bestar, saw its stock price more than double.
Bestar, which trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange, finished 2007 at 54 cents per share after starting the year at 25 cents per share. The thinly traded stock nearly hit C$1 in May, but the shares traded at 40 cents to 60 cents per share for much of the year.
The next-largest gainer was Culp, a supplier of upholstery fabric and mattress ticking. Its stock finished 2007 at $6.96, up 35.2% for the year.
Culp, whose share price shot up to more than $12 during the summer after the bankruptcy and subsequent closing of rival Quaker Fabric, has traded at more than $7 per share in early 2008.
The next-largest 2007 gain was registered by Canadian retailer BMTC Group, whose shares were up 28.9%. U.S. manufacturer and importer Hooker Furniture was next with a 28.1% gain, followed by specialty bedding producer Tempur-Pedic with a 26.9% increase.
Tempur-Pedic's noteworthy 2007 gain came on the heels of an even more impressive 80% jump in the share price during 2006.
The only other two gainers on the list were Canadian rent-to-own powerhouse Easyhome, whose shares rose 16.2%, and Canadian retailer Leon's Furniture, whose shares edged up 0.8%.
The two worst performers were now-defunct Quaker and retailer The Bombay Company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September and is liquidating all of its U.S. stores. The shares of both companies plunged 99% and are essentially worthless today.
The next-worst performer was foam supplier Foamex, which emerged from Chapter 11 protection in the spring. After registering the largest gain among furniture industry stocks in 2006, its shares fell 80.8% in 2007. Foamex's new share price reflects the effects of a 1-for-4 reverse stock split that occurred April 30.
Other stocks falling more than 50% during 2007 were U.S. RTO giant Rent-A-Center, down 50.8%; retailer Cost Plus, down 57.9%; airbed specialist Select Comfort, down 59.7%; and Canadian manufacturer Shermag, down 63.6%.
It was the second yearly decline for Select Comfort, a manufacturer and retailer of airbeds and related accessories, whose stock fell 6.5% in 2006. But in 2005, the company was one of the industry's biggest gainers as its shares rose 64.3%.
Three of the industry's best-known brands — Bassett, Stanley and Natuzzi — registered declines in excess of 40%, while other high-profile companies such as La-Z-Boy, Furniture Brands International, Aaron Rents and Havertys saw their stocks drop more than 30%.
| Year-end furniture stocks ups, downs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Percent change in closing price, 2006–2007 | |||
| Close 12/29/06 | Close 12/31/07 | Percent Change | |
| 1. The Furniture/Today Stock Index includes 21 footnoted furniture stocks (Dec. 20, 1988 = 100) 2. Traded in American Depository Receipts (ADRs). 3. Prices in Canadian dollars. A = American Stock Exchange; M = Montreal Stock Exchange; N = New York Stock Exchange; O = Over the counter; T = Toronto Exchange Source: Data Network, Huntington, N.Y. Information and data here, though believed accurate, is not guaranteed. Data Network is not liable for any inaccuracies. |
|||
| Gainers | |||
| Culp1 (N, CFI) | $5.15 | $6.96 | 35.2% |
| Hooker Furniture1 (O, HOFT) | 15.68 | 20.10 | 28.2 |
| Tempur-Pedic1 (N, TPX) | 20.46 | 25.97 | 26.9 |
| Losers | |||
| Flexsteel Inds.1 (O, FLXS) | $12.58 | $12.00 | -4.6% |
| Jennifer Convertibles1 (A, JEN) | 5.29 | 4.75 | -10.2 |
| Pier 1 Imports1 (N, PIR) | 5.95 | 5.23 | -12.1 |
| Williams-Sonoma (N, WSM) | 31.44 | 25.90 | -17.6 |
| Valspar (N, VAL) | 27.64 | 22.54 | -18.5 |
| Ethan Allen1 (N, ETH) | 36.11 | 28.50 | -21.1 |
| Restoration Hardware1 (O, RSTO) | 8.51 | 6.57 | -22.8 |
| Sealy Corp.1 (N, ZZ) | 14.75 | 11.19 | -24.1 |
| Design Within Reach (O, DWRI) | 4.93 | 3.70 | -25.0 |
| Leggett & Platt1 (N, LEG) | 23.90 | 17.44 | -27.0 |
| Masco (N, MAS) | 29.87 | 21.61 | -27.7 |
| Aaron Rents1 (N, RNT) | 28.78 | 19.24 | -33.2 |
| La-Z-Boy1 (N, LZB) | 11.87 | 7.93 | -33.2 |
| Aaron Rents (Class A) (N, RNTA) | 26.38 | 17.26 | -34.6 |
| Furniture Brands Intl.1 (N, FBN) | 16.23 | 10.06 | -38.0 |
| Haverty Furniture1 (N, HVT) | 14.80 | 8.99 | -39.3 |
| Haverty Furniture (Class A) (N, HVTA) | 14.86 | 8.99 | -39.5 |
| Bassett Furniture1 (O, BSET) | 16.34 | 9.34 | -42.8 |
| Stanley Furniture1 (O, STLY) | 21.45 | 12.00 | -44.1 |
| Chromcraft Revington1 (N, CRC) | 8.59 | 4.80 | -44.1 |
| Natuzzi2 (N, NTZ) | 8.51 | 4.61 | -45.8 |
| Rent-A-Center (O, RCII) | 29.51 | 14.52 | -50.8 |
| Cost Plus1 (O, CPWM) | 10.30 | 4.34 | -57.9 |
| Select Comfort1 (O, SCSS) | 17.39 | 7.01 | -59.7 |
| Foamex International1 (O, FMXI) | 15.20 | 2.92 | -80.8 |
| The Bombay Company1 (N, BBA) | 1.28 | 0.02 | -98.7 |
| Quaker Fabric (O, QFAB) | 1.18 | 0.01 | -99.0 |
| Canadian Cos.3 | |||
| Bestar (T, BES) | $0.25 | $0.54 | 116.0% |
| BMTC Group (T, GBTA) | 17.61 | 22.70 | 28.9 |
| Easyhome (T, EH) | 17.00 | 19.75 | 16.2 |
| Leon's Furniture (T, LNF) | 12.80 | 12.90 | 0.8 |
| Dorel Inds. (T, DIIA) | 32.00 | 28.75 | -10.2 |
| Sleep Country Canada (T, Z.u) | 27.79 | 23.00 | -17.2 |
| Amisco (T, IAC) | 1.83 | 1.45 | -20.8 |
| Shermag (T, SMG) | 2.39 | 0.87 | -63.6 |
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Stocks down in 2008
Jan 11, 2009
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