Awaiting a Housing Rebound

Article Excerpt

AMERICAN WOODMARK $18.02 (Nasdaq symbol AMWD; SI Rating: Speculative) (540- 665-9100;www.americanwoodmark.com; Shares outstanding: 14.0 million; Market cap: $252.9 million) makes kitchen and bath cabinets in the United States. It offers more than 380 cabinet lines in a wide variety of designs, materials and finishes. It sells its products through a network of dealers and distributors and directly to home centers and major homebuilders. The company operates 15 plants as well as various service centers across the U.S. In the three months ended July 31, 2008, revenues fell 16.2%, to $139.2 million from $166.1 million. Remodeling sales and new construction sales fell. The company made $0.01 a share in the latest quarter, compared to a profit of $0.34 a year earlier. The lower earnings came from inefficiencies in labor and higher overhead and freight costs stemming from lower sales volumes, plus higher energy and material costs. American Woodmark expects tighter credit conditions and falling housing prices to continue to hurt remodeling and new construction…