Tempur-Pedic expecting 28% sales increase in first quarter

Bedding source will release complete earnings results April 21

Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, April 11, 2011

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Tempur-Pedic International said last week it expects to report about a 28% sales gain in its first quarter, to $325 million, with net earnings well above the level Wall Street analysts were predicting.

The company's stock price rose 12.1% in trading Friday, closing at $57.17, for one of the largest gains on the New York Stock Exchange that day.

In addition to the sales gains over the 2010 first quarter, the foam bedding source projected earnings per share for the 2011 first quarter at 67 cents to 68 cents per share. Wall Street analysts polled by FactSet had a consensus estimate of 58 cents per share and were expecting sales of $290.5 million.

"First-quarter sales and profits exceeded our prior expectations in both our North American and International segments," said CEO Mark Sarvary. "During the quarter, we made progress in our effort to enhance our product range and significantly increased our investment in consumer marketing as we seek to capitalize on the considerable market share opportunity we see for our brand."

The company said it will report complete first-quarter results on April 21.

Tempur-Pedic also said it purchased 1.32 million shares of its common stock in the first quarter at an average price of $47.35 for a total cost of $62.5 million.

For the full year, the company increased its guidance to sales in a range of $1.31 billion to $1.36 billion, and earnings per share of $2.80 to $2.95.

"We are pleased that our manufacturing and productivity initiatives continued to deliver significant benefits, which helped drive improved gross margin on a sequential basis," said Dale Williams, chief financial officer. "In revising our financial guidance, we considered both the positive sales trends we experienced during the quarter as well as a more inflationary outlook for commodities."