Furniture Brands Is a Dog
By 11 p.m. EDT Wednesday, I was ready to prepare my Real Money commentary plus a stock pick, when my computer mouse magically clicked on a story regarding Furniture Brands International (FBN). Are you unfamiliar with Furniture Brands? Good, that tells me that you are a smart investor who can smell a dirty, wet pooch from a mile away.
There are a couple of talking points that are worthwhile to know about Furniture Brands, which together basically tee up the rest of the real life Halloween ghoulish tale of the company. First, the company sells mid-priced furniture through mass market chains, independents, and its own retail store network. With the housing market still in the doldrums and consumer no confidence the norm, a mid-tier brand is not the most fruitful place to situate investable cash. Two, bad retail store leases have plagued Furniture Bands and this situation will likely continue. By plague, think along the lines of the company still having to shell out money to satisfy lease agreements on stores that have been shuttered already. Three, the company from the years that I have covered it has been a picture of mismanagement....682 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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