Bassett: Sept. Orders +39% YoY, Reinstates $0.50 Dividend (3.3% Yield) On Strong Furniture Demand
Published Oct 12, 2020 on Seeking Alpha

Seeking AlphaLong Ideas | Consumer Bassett: Sept. Orders +39% YoY, Reinstates $0.50 Dividend (3.3% Yield) On Strong Furniture DemandOct. 12, 2020 1:10 PM ET|| About: Bassett Furniture Industries, Incorporated (BSET), Includes: HOFT, HVT, HVT.A, LEN, LEN.B, LZB, MTH, PHM, TOLby: Value Investment PrincipalsValue Investment Principals Small-cap, Deep ValueSummaryBassett reinstated its dividend to a $0.50 annual payout, very much in line with our expectations.
Company reports very strong September wholesale order growth of 39% YoY.
Bassett is trading much below 5-year highs making it a value buy with greater upside [unlike many of its peer group which are near or crossed this mark].
Homebuilder stocks surging to all-time highs, providing huge catalyst and positive read-through for furniture companies.
Bassett will see stronger demand in the coming months as pending housing sales reach peak highs, August sales +24% YoY.
Improvement in Wholesale Orders Segment
"Our incoming wholesale order rate continued the recent trend in September, exceeding the prior year by 39%,” said Rob Spilman, Chairman and CEO. “In acknowledgement of this sales trend and the corresponding strengthening of our balance sheet, we are pleased to announce that our Board of Directors restored our dividend to its pre-COVID level."
We are extremely pleased and optimistic on the current business trends happening at Bassett (BSET). With order rates continuing to improve, and Bassett continuing to ramp up its production to meet this demand, the outlook certainly looks encouraging.
Wholesale and retail both represent the largest segment of revenues, as can be seen from the company’s disaggregation breakup below:
Source: 10-K
Dividend Reinstated
Bassett reinstated their $0.125 per share quarterly dividend, ($0.50 annualized) which was in-line with our consensus expectation, indicating a 3.3% forward yield. Earlier Bassett had cut their dividend temporarily in May to... Read more