Toano Va. – Shares of Lumber Liquidators Holdings reached a new 52-week low during trading on Oct. 22 after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings.
The company traded as low as $49.10 and closed at $52.36, down 5.27%.
The company reported that third quarter net income was $15.7 million, or $0.58 per share, compared to $20.4 million, or $0.73 per share, a year ago. Net sales increased $11.8 million, or 4.6%, to $266.1 million from $254.3 million in the third quarter of 2013.
The results did not meet Wall Street expectations of 67 cents per share.
Comparable stores net sales decreased 4.9%. Non-comparable store net sales increased $24.2 million and included net sales from five new stores opened during the third quarter of 2014. Gross margin was 39.2% compared to 41.8% in the third quarter of 2013 due primarily to sales mix, greater promotions, retail discounting and greater costs of inventory shrink and obsolescence. The company now expects full year net sales in the range of $1.05 billion to $1.065 billion, down from its previous estimate of $1.05 billion to $1.10 billion, with the fourth quarter ranging from $275 million to $290 million.