| Tandy Leather Factory, Inc.
(amex: TLF) |
 |
 |
TLF Lowers FY07 Guidance as
Leather Loses its Luster (+16.1%) |
| SLEEPER UPDATE -
March 1, 2007 |
The tone of our previous
updates on Tandy Leather Factory, Inc. (amex: TLF) have been
"nervous" at best. Monthly sales figures have barely tracked
towards the company's fiscal 2006 guidance and today TLF has been
forced to lower its FY07 outlook.
When we first highlighted TLF on October 9, 2006 in our piece entitled,
"Leather Retailer 'Boot-Strapping' Expansion and Growth"
the company had been reporting double-digit sales growth and planned
to augment sales growth with new store openings. Now it seems same-store
sales growth has come to a screeching halt and the only growth ahead
in 2007 might be from new store openings.
TLF recently confirmed that it was on track to hit its FY06 revenue
guidance of $55-56 million and EPS guidance of $0.43-0.44 per diluted
share. At the end of December, the company had reported $55.2 million
in year-to-date sales, representing an +8.8% revenue growth rate over
FY05. EPS at the projected $0.43 per diluted share would represent
+26.5% earnings growth.
Today, the company reported February sales growth of only 1%, the
same as January's year-over-year sales growth. On top of that disappointing
news, TLF lowered its FY07 revenue guidance to $59-61 million (down
from $60-62 million) and dropped its FY07 EPS guidance to 53-56c per
diluted share (down from 54-57c). This new guidance sets the stage
for less than +9% revenue growth and +23% earnings growth in 2007.
Those numbers aren't bad, just "lackluster." The real problem
we have is that the majority of growth seems to only be derived from
the 12 new stores planned for 2007, not to mention how these new openings
might impact margins and make the earnings outlook tough to top.
As the news hit the wire, TLF shares quickly declined over -6%, and
as much as we hate to admit it, TLF may be fairly valued at the current
$7.50 stock price. The forward looking P/E ratio is now at 14.2 versus
the trailing 14.7 P/E at the time of our initial report. And, that
was when we were looking at strong double-digit growth rates, partially
from same-store sales.
Even the CEO expressed his disappointment in today's release stating,
"Our February sales results are frustrating. We're doing all
the right things, but we don't seem to be turning those efforts into
sales."
CONCLUSION: Uh-oh, Code-Blue
We really like this humble, old-fashioned company, but we just don't
see the catalysts we saw back in October. Of course, if the stock
gets really cheap and the metrics change, we might revisit TLF, but
for now, we are issuing a "Code-Blue Alert" for TLF as of
the $7.50 closing price on Thursday, March 1, 2007 for an +16.1% gain. |
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