Sealy Corp Falls After Earnings Miss

Shares of Sealy Corp

are under pressure during Thursday's trading session after the company reported yesterday earnings that did not live up to analysts' estimates. The company reported fourth quarter loss of $0.14 per share on revenues of $269.3 million. This is versus Street estimates of $0.01 on revenues of $309.8 million. Sealy's gross profits fell to $98.1 million, a drop of 20% from the previous year. As a result, the company posted a net loss of $14 million due to a lower gross margin of 36.4%. Operations cost the company more than it could take in, with selling, general, and administrative expenses staying nearly flat at $98.9 million for Q4 2011. To tackle lower sales, Sealy's CEO Larry Rogers announced that his company is "making operational changes to improve our future business results." This may translate to layoffs in the near term. Currently, shares of Sealy are down 19% at $1.49; down about 13% on the year.