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Analysts cast doubts on online strategy
Faced with two years of rough financial performances and tough times in its key flooring and ceiling tile markets, Armstrong World Industries Inc. is hoping the Internet will help improve its health.
The 140-year-old company has spent this year putting together a new Web strategy to help cut production costs, improve its market share and expand its customer base. But analysts say the Web isn't likely to rescue Lancaster, Pa.-based Armstrong from financial woes.
The problem, said Chris Winham, a financial analyst at The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York, is that Armstrong is "the market leader in a low-growth or nogrowth industry - that being vinyl flooring."
Armstrong's financial struggles have shoved its stock into a free fall, plunging from an alltime high of $90 per share in April 1998 to $5.63 per share on Oct. 6. But despite what critics say the company is...