Published on 23 Feb 2022 on Market Watch

LL Flooring profit, sales and gross margin all fall, and financial guidance not provided

LL Flooring Holdings Inc. formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, reported Wednesday fourth-quarter earnings that were about one-third what they were a year ago, and sales that fell 6.2% and gross margin that decreased by 150 basis points. The hard-surface flooring company said net income fell to $10.3 million, or 35 cents a share, from $31.1 million, or $1.05 a share, in the year ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted EPS fell to 35 cents from $1.03. Sales fell to $285.3 million from $304.2 million and same-store sales dropped 6.7%, while gross margin fell to 37.3% from 38.8%. The company said it would not provide financial guidance given macroeconomic uncertainties related to COVID-19, supply chain disruptions, consumer spending, inflation and a challenging labor market. Separately, the company said it added $35.3 million to its stock repurchase program, to increase repurchase authorization to $50.0 million. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket traidng, has tumbled 21.5% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has lost 8.2%.