Top furniture, bedding brands at dollar-store prices
I realize the recession has yet to relax its chokehold on the furniture industry, but did you think you would ever see the day when the stock prices of two of the industry’s best-known brands would fall below $1 per share?
It’s certainly not a scenario I envisioned, but this is the great-great-great grandmother of all sales slumps, so I guess I shouldn’t have been shocked when Sealy broke the buck yesterday.
The stock of the mattress industry sales leader, which was trading at $8 per share as recently as Sept. 22, closed at 87 cents yesterday.
La-Z-Boy went below $1 for the first time on Jan. 30, and has traded as low as 70 cents per share. In recent days, the price has been around 90 cents. Keep in mind this was a stock that traded for more than $10 a share as recently as Sept. 30.
And now, it looks like Bassett could be the next furniture “name” to fall below $1. Although it briefly fell below that mark in intra-day trading on Feb. 20, I refuse to put it in the under-$1 category unless the closing price is at that level.
Yesterday’s closing price was $1.01 and it’s up a penny in early trading today. So there’s hope it won’t fall further.
Dawn Keyhoetay commented:
It's all a matter of spending more than you are taking in. Stop doing that. Mattress slump? Market shares are up as more competitors go by the wayside. Sales are looking up. Profits are on the rise. Our boss is trying to sell us this story while industry numbers tell a different tale. Customers are few and far between.
lutonmoore commented:
I just purchased a bed from the Original Mattress Factory, in the Chesapeake, VA store and had it delivered here in Elizabeth City. I had researched the OMF but I was really amazed at the side-by-side comparison of their mattresses beside all the Name competitors in the store. The high-dollar mattress I purchased was worn out in less than five years. I doubt that OMF's having too bad a slump.
Andy commented:
The majority of furniture and bedding manufactures just do not have the "street smart savy" and being in the know of what retailers want from a vendor. Business is out there to move their sales and profits to move the stock.
Larry Thomas commented:
I don't think Sealy is on the verge of bankruptcy, but the company does have nearly $800 million in debt, and the mattress industry is in the midst of its worst slump in nearly 30 years. And all home furnishings stocks have been getting hammered in recent months.
FYI, Bassett also closed below $1 on Friday.
Rob commented:
Stocks go down for a reason. Is Sealy on the verge of bankruptcy? Something negative must be going on at Sealy. Any ideas?
