Mattress Firm Misses Q1 Estimates, Shares Slip

Shares of Mattress Firm Holding Corp MFRM fell over 2 percent in after-hours trading after the company reported downbeat earnings for the first quarter. The Houston, Texas-based company posted quarterly net income of $5.5 million, or $0.15 per share, compared to $7.7 million, or $0.22 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, the company earned $0.33 per share. Its revenue surged 68.7 percent year-over-year to $562.6 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.39 per share on revenue of $565.84 million. The average estimate among 5 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.39 per share and revenue of $560.03 million. Its comparable-store sales rose 1.3 percent in the quarter. The company opened 78 new stores and closed 9 stores during the quarter. At the end of the first fiscal quarter, Mattress Firm had cash and cash equivalents of around $11.0 million. "We are pleased our dedicated organization delivered 68.7% net sales growth and our seventh consecutive quarter of positive comparable-store sales, as we continue to navigate a period of extraordinary integration of multiple acquisitions," stated Steve Stagner, Mattress Firm's chief executive officer. "As we had anticipated and previously communicated, our operation of the Chicago market in the first quarter impacted our results as we worked to convert the stores, leading to an approximate loss of $0.07 per diluted share, excluding acquisition-related costs. Once we converted the majority of the signs in our Chicago market prior to Memorial Day, we saw an immediate and now sustained lift in sales as expected." For the full year, Mattress Firm projects earnings of $2.50 to $2.70 per share, and revenue of $2.485 billion to $2.535 billion. Mattress Firm shares slipped 2.21 percent to $60.30 in the after-hours trading session.