(Bloomberg) -- La-Z-Boy Inc. feels hungover, and it’s blaming its troubles on U.S. tariffs.
The furniture producer known for its recliners said the U.S. trade war with China is making it harder to shake off a sluggish beginning to the year. The shares tumbled in late trading.
“The first calendar quarter was off to a slow start across the home furnishings industry,” Chief Executive Officer Kurt Darrow said Tuesday in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings statement. “With the hangover of tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty, it is unclear if these business conditions will continue further into our fiscal 2020 year.”
Darrow warned investors during an earnings call in February that tariffs on China goods rising to 25% would translate to about a 6% to 7% increase in pricing, while also saying that it remained to be seen how customers would respond to the price changes.
La-Z-Boy posted sales of $453.8 million for the quarter that ended April 27, shy of estimates. Profit excluding some items of 64 cents a share matched projections.
Shares of the furniture maker fell as much as 14% in after-hours trading. They have climbed 7.5% this year through Tuesday’s close, less than half the gain of the benchmark S&P 500 Index.
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