Select Comfort shares sink to 6-year low

Shares of the Minneapolis company, known for its Sleep Number beds, fell 24 cents, or 10.9 percent, to $1.96 during midday trading, after earlier reaching a low of $1.80. The last time the stock traded that low was in January 2002.

The Clinton Group Inc., which holds just less than an 8 percent stake in the company, began pressuring the company in March for changes such as closing stores and cutting expenses to help improve results and reverse the share-price decline.

The Clinton Group is also calling for the ouster of Select Comfort's chief executive, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, among other changes.

In a statement, Select Comfort said it is working on its own turnaround plan.

"The Select Comfort board is actively engaged, and with management, has developed and been executing on a plan to turn the business around in the face of a challenging environment," the company said in a statement. "The board and management already have taken significant actions, and are taking others, that we believe address the company's near-term issues and deliver value to shareholders."

Select Comfort, like other mattress makers, have suffered as consumers have cut back spending--particularly on big-ticket items such as mattresses--amid a rising cost of living and declining home values.

In April, the company said it swung to a first-quarter loss because of weak consumer spending and a reduced ad budget. Sales fell 22 percent to $168.2 million.