Despite strong quarterly results that beat estimates on the top and bottom lines, Raymond James said it’s time for investors to take a pause on shares of La-Z-Boy . Analyst Bobby Griffin downgraded shares of the furniture retailer to market perform from outperform, citing a troublesome near-term growth outlook for the company as it grapples with slowing U.S. housing data and uncertainty “on the backlog delivery given inventory positioning in the wholesale business.” “As such, with the stock close to our prior target price and our near-term estimates coming down, we feel like now is the prudent time to move to the sidelines awaiting improvement in written trends,” Griffin said. To be sure, Griffin believes long-term upside is in store for the stock as the company expands its furniture galleries and grows its Joybird business. “Lastly, while there are economic and geopolitical concerns, we stress La-Z-Boy’s balance sheet remains great shape (for any environment), with zero debt and $266M in cash and investments,” he wrote. Along with the downgrade, Griffin trimmed the firm’s earnings per share estimates on the stock for the fiscal second quarter of 2023 and the 2024 fiscal year. Shares of La-Z-Boy have slumped 19.6% this year and sit 27% off their 52-week high. However, the stock has risen nearly 5% since the start of August. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting
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