Key Takeaways
- La-Z-Boy earnings slumped on reduced foot traffic in its stores and weakness in its Joybird brand.
- Same-store sales fell 4% year-over-year, and Joybird sales sank 14%.
- La-Z-Boy CEO Melinda Whittington said the furniture retailer was “evaluating all alternatives” to deal with its non-core-business financial woes.
La-Z-Boy (LZB) shares sank 13% Wednesday, a day after the furniture maker’s profit declined as it dealt with fewer buyers in its stores and weak demand for its Joybird brand.
The company known for its reclining chairs reported fiscal 2026 first-quarter adjusted earnings per share that slumped 24% year-over-year to $0.47, while analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for $0.53. Revenue fell 1% to $492.2 million, but that was better than forecasts.
Same-store sales slid 4%, which La-Z-Boy blamed on “an increasingly challenged consumer.” Joybird sales tumbled 14%, although in-store sales exceeded those online.
CEO Melinda Whittington noted that while the company remained positive about its strategy, “we are balancing our optimism in the long-term industry fundamentals and our competitive positioning with a pragmatic approach to current uneven consumer demand.” Whittington added that La-Z-Boy was “evaluating all alternatives to address financial pressure from non-core parts of our enterprise.”
CFO Taylor Luebke said the company expects current-quarter revenue in the range of $510 million to $530 million. The Visible Alpha estimate was for $528 million. Luebke explained La-Z-Boy was “navigating a continued challenging consumer and macroeconomic environment.”
Shares of La-Z-Boy sank to their lowest level in more than a year.
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