Stanley Furniture 3Q Profit Slumps on Weak Wooden Residential Furniture Market


STANLEYTOWN, Va. (AP) — Stanley Furniture Co. said Monday its third-quarter profit fell 48 percent, as homeowners held back on purchases of wooden furniture and the company incurred higher raw material, compensation and energy costs.

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The results fell below Stanley’s previously lowered forecast, and the company issued a forecast for fourth-quarter results below Wall Street’s current expectations, sending shares falling $2.53, or 11.6 percent, to $19.21 in aftermarket trading. They had closed down 14 cents at $21.74 on the Nasdaq, where they’ve traded between $19.31 and $29.96 over the past year.

Quarterly net income dropped to $3 million, or 26 cents per share, from $5.8 million, or 44 cents per share. Quarterly sales slipped to $75.9 million from $85.6 million.

Wall Street had been expecting a profit of 28 cents per share on sales of $77.5 million, according to an analyst poll by Thomson Financial. In mid-September the company lowered its earnings projection to 27 cents to 29 cents per share, down from 38 cents to 41 cents.

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Jeffrey R. Scheffer said in a statement he expects wooden residential furniture sales to remain in an industrywide slowdown “for a while.”

“While we are disappointed with the sales decline, we believe it is a result of overall industry conditions,” he said.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects fourth-quarter earnings per share of between 13 cents and 16 cents on sales of between $69 million and $71.5 million.

Analysts had been expecting earnings of 25 cents per share on sales of $75.8 million.