Ethan Allen Shares Slump After Results Prereleased

Sales slumped nearly 41 percent, but the company did not specify what it expected quarterly revenue to be when it formally releases results on April 30.

Analysts had expected the company to earn 4 cents a share in the period on revenue of $170.1 million. They typically exclude one-time items from their estimates.

During the same period last year, the company earned $8.8 million, or 30 cents a share, on revenue of $235.9 million.

KeyBanc analyst Bradley Thomas, who expected the company's sales to slip 30 percent, said the results were far worse than expected and showed a dramatic deterioration from the second quarter, when sales fell 27 percent compared with a year earlier.

"In fact, this is the largest quarterly decline we have seen within our entire coverage universe, and we believe the sales weakness is exacerbated by the company's stance of everyday low price in an environment in which the competition remains very promotional," he wrote to investors.

Also Tuesday, Ethan Allen said its board halved the company's quarterly cash dividend to 5 cents per share to preserve cash. The new dividend is payable July 24 to shareholders of record as of July 10.