Photo by S3studio/Getty Images
- Ethan Allen Interiors is ditching its ETH stock symbol as some have confused it with the cryptocurrency ether.
- The furniture company's new ETD ticker will be effective on August 16.
- Ethan Allen's stock and the price of ether, the token of the ethereum blockchain, have shot higher this year.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Ethan Allen Interiors is changing the ETH stock symbol it's held for nearly 30 years in a move to clear up apparent confusion over the furniture maker's ticker with that of the cryptocurrency ether.
The new NYSE ticker will be ETD as of August 16, the company said in a Thursday statement.
Earlier this year, the company's stock price had soared by nearly 60% on a year-to-date basis and had more than doubled from a year earlier, with some investors seemingly mistaking the ticker for the token of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethan Allen went public in 1993 with the ETH symbol.
The "change will better differentiate Ethan Allen news from Ethereum news in search results, as Ethereum is often abbreviated as ETH," said Farooq Kathwari, Ethan Allen's chairman, president and CEO, in the statement.
An investment forum at StockTwits dedicated to Ethan Allen is filled with messages about ether rather than the furniture seller. Ethan Allen started in business in 1932, making it the elder statesman in the market as ethereum was launched in 2015.
Ethan Allen's stock has pulled back from this year's highs but was still up by roughly 18%. Ether's price this year has zoomed up by about 280% to trade above $2,800 as part of widening investment activity in cryptocurrencies. It's the second-most traded cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, with a market capitalization of about $330 billion.
But investors seeking out Ethan Allen would see there's been a jump in business there as the pandemic fueled demand for homes and the need to furnish them. The company's revenue climbed 18% in the first quarter of 2021 from the year-ago period.
Kathwari in Ethan Allen's statement said the "D" in the new ticker symbol is for "Design," reflecting its focus on interior design.