Mattress Firm Posts Slight 2Q Beat; Buying Binge Continues

Mattress Firm Holding Corp (NASDAQ: MFRM) posted second-quarter results slightly higher than expected and agreed to acquire West Coast mattress retailer Sleep Train for $425 million.Houston-based Mattress Firm's shares gained more than 8 percent Thursday morning, trading at $61.53.Mattress Firm said 10 percent of the purchase price for Sleep Train's 310 stores will be paid in stock and it will also take on $15 million of Sleep Train's debt.The company is on an acquisition binge aimed at consolidating the fragmented retail bedding segment. In June it completed the $35 million acquisition of Mattress Liquidators, which operates 67 stores in Arizona and Colorado.Pending deals also include the $6 million deal to acquire Best Mattress Co., which operates 15 stores in Pennsylvania, and a $60 million deal to buy Back to Bed, Bedding Experts, with a string of 135 stores in in the Chicago and Orlando areas.In the recent second quarter, Mattress Firm posted a 9.7 percent gain in same-store sales and closed the period with a total of more than 1,400 stores.Second-quarter profits were flat at $14.1, or $0.41 cents a share, compared with $14.3 million, or $0.41 cents a share a year earlier. Adjusted income for the recent period equaled $0.61 cents a share.Revenue grew 35 percent to $409.9 million from $302.5 million a year earlier.Wall Street expected adjusted income of $0.60 cents a share, on revenue of $410 million.