La-Z-Boy, Inc. (LZB) announced its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, February 18. Although the residential furniture retailer exceeded quarterly revenue estimates, the company’s stock dropped by over 1% following the report’s release.

The company posted quarterly sales of $521.8 million, up 4% from $500.4 million reported during the same quarter last year. This surpassed analysts’ expectations of $512.3 million in sales.

“Our third quarter results reflect the steady progress we have made to build a more agile business, create our own momentum, and drive growth in what is still a challenged environment,” said La-Z-Boy CEO, Melinda D. Whittington. “As we look to the future, our brand, and its well-known attributes of comfort and quality, will be further supported by our expanding consumer insights. We believe this is creating a flywheel with improved innovation, strong speed to market, and improved brand reach and profitability.” 

For the quarter, La-Z-Boy reported net income of $28.4 million or $0.68 per adjusted share. This was a slight decrease from net income of $28.6 million or $0.66 per adjusted share in the same quarter last year.

The Michigan-based furniture manufacturer, known for its recliners, sofas and chairs, experienced an increase in delivered sales for the company-owned Furniture Galleries stores by 11% to $228 million in the quarter. Wholesale sales rose by 2% to $363 million, attributed to higher sales in its La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores compared to the same time last year. The company expects revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 to be between $545 million to $565 million.

La-Z-Boy, Inc. (LZB) shares ended the week at $44.82, down 3.8% for the week.

Cheesecake Factory Serves Up Earnings

Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (CAKE) released its fourth quarter and full-year earnings report on Wednesday, February 19. The restaurant chain reported increased revenue and income for the quarter causing shares to rise 1% following the release of the report.

Cheesecake Factory posted quarterly revenue of $921.0 million. This was up from $877.0 million reported at the same time last year and above analysts’ expectations of $912.0 million. Full-year revenue came in at $3.6 billion.

“Our fourth quarter performance capped off an excellent year, with solid revenue and earnings contributing to record annual revenue and substantially improved profitability for 2024,” said Cheesecake Factory CEO, David Overton. “Our fourth quarter and full-year results marked the achievement of our key financial and operational objectives, including comparable sales growth, margin expansion and accelerating accretive unit growth. With these accomplishments as a foundation, we are confident in our ability to continue delivering on our goals for 2025 and beyond.”

For the fourth quarter, Cheesecake Factory reported net income of $41.2 million or $0.83 per adjusted share. This is up from $12.7 million or $0.26 per adjusted share reported at this time last year. The company reported net income of $156.8 million for the year.

Cheesecake Factory’s comparable restaurant sales in the fourth quarter increased 1.7% year-over-year. The company opened nine new restaurants, including three North Italia restaurants, two Flower Child locations, two FRC restaurants and the relocation of two Cheesecake Factory restaurants. The company also expects to open as many as 25 new restaurants in fiscal 2025. Currently, the company has a total of 348 restaurants. The company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share payable on March 18, 2025, to stockholders of record on March 5, 2025.

Cheesecake Factory, Inc. (CAKE) shares closed at $54.65, up 4% for the week.

Walmart Releases Earnings Report

Walmart Inc. (WMT) announced its fourth quarter and full-year results on Thursday, February 20. Despite beating fourth-quarter projections, the company’s shares fell more than 6% after the release of the report.

The company posted quarterly revenue of $180.55 billion, up 4% from $173.39 billion reported during the same quarter last year. This exceeded analysts’ expectations of $180.01 billion. Full-year revenue came in at $680.99 billion.

“Our team finished the year with another quarter of strong results,” said Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon. “We have momentum driven by our low prices, a growing assortment, and an eCommerce business driven by faster delivery times. We are gaining market share, our top line is healthy, and we are in great shape with inventory. We will stay focused on growth, improving operating margins, and strengthening ROI as we invest to serve our customers and members even better.”

For the quarter, Walmart reported net income of $5.25 billion or $0.65 per adjusted share. This was down from $5.49 billion or $0.68 per adjusted share reported in the same quarter the previous year. The company reported net income of $19.44 billion for the year.

The Arkansas-based retailer reported Walmart U.S. eCommerce sales growth of 20% for the quarter, primarily driven by the company’s strong performance in pickup and delivery. Walmart’s Global advertising business grew 29% for the quarter, which includes 24% for Walmart Connect in the U.S. Walmart’s U.S. membership-based warehouse store, Sam’s Club saw a 13% growth in membership income. The company announced its full-year fiscal 2026 outlook and expects net sales to increase between 3% and 4% with net sales expected to reach $674.5 billion.

Walmart, Inc. (WMT) shares ended the week at $94.78, down 9.8% for the week.

The Dow started the holiday week of 2/17 at 44,584 and closed at 43,428 on 2/21. The S&P 500 started the week at 6,122 and ended at 6,013. The NASDAQ started the week at 20,091 and finished at 19,524.

Treasury yields varied this week as investors digested the latest economic data. Yields trended lower toward the end of the week as the latest employment data showed an uptick in unemployment claims filed.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve released the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s most recent meeting. At the meeting, policy makers agreed they would need to see further progress of inflation coming down and assess the impact of any potential tariffs before considering lowering interest rates. 

“Participants indicated that, provided the economy remained near maximum employment, they would want to see further progress on inflation before making additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate,” the minutes stated.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of February 17 at 4.47% and traded as high as 4.58% on Wednesday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.69% and traded as high as 4.80% on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment increased by 5,000 to 219,000 for the week ending February 15. This was above economists’ estimate of 215,000. Continuing claims rose by 24,000 to 1.87 million.

"The current round of unprecedented belt-tightening and budget cuts and layoffs in Washington have not become a reality yet in terms of showing up in the national statistics," said chief economist at FWDBONDS, Christopher Rupkey. "But actions taken in the early days of the new administration may yet bring about a broader economic slowdown and is frankly a risk factor that economists did not see at the start of the year."

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of February 17 at 4.43% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.68%.

Freddie Mac released its latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday, February 20. The survey showed the 30-year fixed mortgage rate continuing to slowly inch down from 7%.

This week, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.85%, down from last week’s average of 6.87%. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.90%.

The 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.04% this week, down from last week’s average of 6.09%. During the same week last year, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.29%.

“Mortgage rates decreased slightly this week,” said Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist, Sam Khater. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has stayed just under 7% for five consecutive weeks and in that time has fluctuated less than 20 basis points. This stability continues to bode well for potential buyers and sellers as we approach the spring homebuying season.”

Based on published national averages, the savings rate was 0.41% as of 2/18. The one-year CD averaged 1.80%.

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