Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Research from Water Tower Research

Equity Research Firm

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

United states Consumer discretionary / Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Furniture and furnishing stocks performed well last week. All three of the WTR indexes outperformed the broader market, led by Residential Manufacturers &amp; Suppliers (+3.3%), Commercial/Contract Furniture (+3.2%) and Home Goods Retailers (+2.7%), which outperformed the broader markets (- 0.1% to +0.8%) and the Mass Retailers Index (+0.1%).</li><li>Mattress demand remains weak. Tempur Sealy International (TPX) CEO Scott Thompson noted in his 1Q24 remarks, “You’d have to say the bedding industry is in a depression and has been in one for a number of quarters” , with demand down an estimated 15% industry-wide in the first three months of the year.</li><li>For TPX, <span style="font-size: var(--content-font-size);">sequentially, demand was weakest in January and improved </span>(though erratically) through April, where it was ‘flattish’. Higher- end price points were a bright spot.</li></ul>

Furniture and furnishing stocks performed well last week. All three of the WTR indexes outperformed the broader market, led by Residential Manufacturers &amp; Suppliers (+3.3%), Commercial/Contract Furniture (+3.2%) and Home Goods Retailers (+2.7%), which outperformed the broader markets (- 0.1% to +0.8%) and the Mass Retailers Index (+0.1%).Mattress demand remains weak. Tempur Sealy International (TPX) CEO Scott Thompson noted in his 1Q24 remarks, “You’d have to say the bedding industry is in a depression and has been in one for a number of quarters” , with demand down an estimated 15% industry-wide in the first three months of the year.For TPX, sequentially, demand was weakest in January and improved (though erratically) through April, where it was ‘flattish’. Higher- end price points were a bright spot.

Furniture/Furnishings Weekly - May 13, 2024