Mattress Firm shares down 5% after earnings miss

Mattress Firm Holding Corp. shares fell more than 5% late Monday after the mattress retailer reported fourth-quarter earnings and sales that were below analyst expectations. Mattress Firm said it earned $13.1 million, or 37 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with 19 cents a share in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the retailer earned $19 million, or 53 cents a share, compared with 41 cents a share a year ago. Sales reached $618.5 million in the quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Mattress Firm to report adjusted earnings of 56 cents a share on sales of $622 million. The retailer said its same-store sales grew 0.7% in the quarter, whereas the analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected a rise of 2.3%. The company, which bought rival company Sleepy's LLC for $780 million in November, said it will re-evaluate its retail footprint and may close stores that overlap, an effort it hopes will drive "a more efficient deployment of capital." Shares of Mattress Firm ended the regular trading day up 1%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.