Havertys Q4 Sales, Comps Down - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. (HVT), known as Havertys, reported Monday that its sales for the fourth quarter 2017 decreased 2.6% to $215.0 million from $220.6 million last year. On a comparable store basis, sales for the quarter were down 3.5%.

Total written sales for the quarter were up 0.3% and written comparable store sales decreased 0.7%.

The full-service home furnishings retailer reported that sales for the twelve months of 2017 totaled $819.9 million, down 0.2 percent from $821.6 million in 2016. On a comparable store basis, sales decreased 1.3%.

On average, three analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect sales of $221.2 million for the quarter and $826.1 million for the year. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Clarence Smith, chairman, president and CEO, said, "The fourth quarter sales were disappointing. There was a heavy concentration of traffic and sales during the traditional shopping period around Thanksgiving and much softer business before and afterwards. We did see an increase in our conversion rate on traffic and the average ticket increased 2.2% over last year's quarter."

The company further said the recently enacted tax law changes will be beneficial to customers and to Havertys.

The Company will release fourth quarter 2017 financial results on February 20.