After-Hours Nightmare for Sealy Shareholders

[Stocks-to-Watch]

Sealy (ZZ) stock fell 14% after hours as the company missed analysts’ earnings and revenue expectations.

The bedding company posted a 14-cent loss, against expectations for a profit of one cent per share. Revenue fell to $269.3 million, below expectations for $309.8 million. net sales in the U.S. fell 9.6% year over year, in part because of more competition for the company’s less expensive products. Gross profit margin fell 5 percentage points to 36.4%.

“We were disappointed with our performance in the fourth quarter and the full fiscal year 2011,” said CEO* Larry Rogers in a statement.* “These results were not in line with the goals that we set forth in the beginning of 2011 and we are making operational changes to improve our future business results.”

“As we look forward into 2012, we expect the industry to continue to experience higher growth in upper and lower priced product rather than growth in products at the middle price points,” he added.



Original Article Source by Barrons.com