Tempur Sealy (TPX) reported some cozy first quarter earnings, but sales, not so much.
Before Thursday's market open, Tempur reported earnings of 96 cents a share, well above the earnings of 72 cents a share analysts surveyed at Factset expected. But, Tempur's first-quarter revenue of $722 million missed Wall Street's estimations for $725 million.
Going forward, Tempur CEO Scott Thompson said the second quarter will be the "most challenged" and he estimated that the company will not see earnings growth for the next few quarters as it invests heavily on advertising and opening new flagship stores, while helping its retail partners open new locations, in response to losing its largest customer Mattress Firm (MFRM) .
"Certain retailers are planning new stores in markets where Mattress Firm has a large presence," Thompson said on a company earnings call this morning. "We're going to spend some money. We're going to run a little sloppy until we understand how the bedding market resets."
After the call, shares of Tempur rose 1.7 percent to $47 in pre-market trading.
In January, Tempur terminated its contract with mattress retailer Mattress Firm, which accounted for about 21 percent of its total global sales. The decision has spurred concern on Wall Street about Tempur's longer term outlook.
Tempur currently operates six flagship stores in North America. Thompson said it would be focused on its e-commerce channel moving forward, which grew more than 200 percent in the first quarter, and in assisting its retail partners boost sales.
In North America, the mattress king said first-quarter net sales increased a meager 0.1 percent, while internationally they rose 3.2 percent. Tempur's adjusted gross margin grew to 41.3 percent percent, compared to 40.4 percent in the year ago period.
At the end of 2016, Tempur estimated that for fiscal 2017, adjusted EBITDA would come in between $400 million and $450 million. The company reaffirmed that outlook on Thursday.
