LL Flooring Holdings Inc. shares slid 1.5% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the wood flooring company’s first-quarter earnings fell short of estimates and it said it expects inflation to remain a headwind to gross margins in 2022. The company posted net income of $4.037 million, or 14 cents a share, for the quarter, down from $10.622 million, or 36 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 13 cents, below the 16 cent FactSet consensus. Sales fell to $279 million from $283 million, also below the $281 million FactSet consensus. Same-store sales fell 3.6%. “We faced macroeconomic headwinds from inflation and a shift in consumer spending to travel and leisure this year compared to stimulus and nesting spending in the first quarter of 2021,” Chief Executive Charles Tyson said in a statement. “In addition, much of the increase in our total inventories to $319 million remained in transit throughout the quarter. Finally, in January, we experienced significant store closures related to a COVID-19 variant.” The company is expecting to struggle with inflation, consumer spending, global supply chain disruptions, COVID-19, and a challenging labor market for the rest of 2022 and is not providing financial guidance. It expects to open 20 to 25 stores in the year. Shares have fallen 13% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has fallen 12%.
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