Interface Issues Third Quarter Earnings Warning

New York, NY, Oct. 8, 2014 -- Shares of Interface fell 16.5% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company announced lower-than-expected preliminary third-quarter results.

Interface said it expects earnings per share in the range of $0.12-0.14 on sales of $250 million to $255 million.

Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.25 on sales of $272.24 million.

Interface also said that its Board of Directors has authorized a program to repurchase up to 500,000 shares of common stock per fiscal year.

Management blamed customer deferrals of delivery dates, disruptions in yarn supply and lower orders at the beginning of the quarter, according to analyst Stifel Nicolaus.

"Although we lowered our Q3 estimates for Interface at the beginning of the week, we did not lower our estimates enough," Stifel said.