La-Z-Boy shares tumble on sales decline

Shares of La-Z-Boy slid Wednesday after the maker of recliners and sofas said a key sales measure declined.

In its first-quarter earnings release, issued late Tuesday, the company said sales at stores open at least a year, an important metric for evaluating retail performance, fell 1.9% in the company's first fiscal quarter of 2017. In the previous year's first quarter the measure rose 5.3%.

Overall, revenue for the quarter was $340.8 million, down slightly from the $341.4 million the company reported in the same quarter last year. Analysts polled by S&P Global Capital Intelligence expected revenues of $358.8 million for the quarter.

Net income rose to $13.8 million in income, up from $13.7 million, in the year-ago quarter but still below Wall Street's estimates of $14.5 million. On a per-share basis the company reported profit of 28 cents.

"While we experienced flat sales for the quarter due to weaker demand at wholesale and inconsistent traffic throughout the La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store system," said CEO Kurt Darrow in a statement. "We are in an excellent service position for both our dealers and the consumer as we approach the traditionally stronger fall selling season."

La-Z-Boy stock fell 12%, or  $3.75, to  $27.45 in morning trading.

Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal