Culp's performance goes against fabric of textiles.

• Author: Williams, Christopher C.

In the cyclical textile industry, High Point-based Culp Inc. has woven a record of consistency. The maker of fabric for furniture and bedding has increased revenue and income for eight straight years, while other textile companies have seen their results dip and skitter. Since the beginning of 1996, Culp's stock has gained 86%, compared with the 33% average of the 22 companies in Interstate/Johnson Lane's Textile Index.

Culp (CFI-NYSE) has thrived partly by turning a textile-industry cliche on its head. While many textile makers are moving jobs offshore, Culp is selling fabric there. International sales have been part of the company's strategy since Robert Culp Jr. helped found it in 1972. Son Robert G. Culp III is now chairman and CEO, and the family still controls almost 24% of the company's 13 million shares.

Robert Culp's original vision has paid off, as revenues from abroad have offset weakness at home. For fiscal 1997, domestic sales grew 8% to $297 million, while international sales jumped 31% to $101 million. Culp now gets 25% of its sales from 50 foreign countries and wants to raise that to 35% within five years. Exports were only 3% of sales - $5.3 million in 1989. "There's an incredible appetite in the world for things American," especially in Eastern Europe, says Culp spokesman Ken Ludwig. The company is also seeing strong demand in the Middle East and Far East.

But international sales are only a piece of Culp's strategy. The 25-year-old family-run company boasts the broadest product line among furniture-fabric makers. And it's gobbling up competitors, increasing its market share. "Culp is one of our darlings," says analyst Todd Brickhouse of Wheat First Butcher Singer in Richmond. "It's a well-run, well-respected company."

Management hasn't always been so surefooted. Business faltered in the early '80s when Culp expanded too fast. And the company suffered a major embarrassment in 1984 when shareholders hit it with a class-action suit, contending Culp misled investors during its initial public offering. It settled in 1985 for $1.5 million, denying wrongdoing.

Despite the company's recent record, its stock is cheap. Even though it was trading at its 52-week high, $20, in late August, that was up just a few cents from February. Culp's shares, like other textile companies', have been hurt by investors' worries about a sluggish market for home furnishings. Plus, old-line manufacturers aren't hot on Wall Street. "We're not in what's...