Key Takeaways
- Shares in office furniture maker Steelcase dropped sharply today after a slump in orders.
- The company’s third-quarter sales projections, meanwhile, came in below analyst estimates.
- Many companies have moved to bring more workers in-house more of the time, with Amazon.com the latest high-profile example.
Sure, Amazon.com (AMZN) wants its workers back in the office all week—but based on the latest forecast from Steelcase (SCS), the outlook for offices still is’t great.
Shares in the office furniture maker dropped 7% Thursday morning, rising off morning lows, after it reported a slump in quarterly orders and issued an outlook that lagged Wall Street estimates—the latest indication that remote and hybrid work arrangements are still very popular.
“Orders from large corporate customers declined compared to the prior year after several quarters of strong year-over-year growth,'” Steelcase said.
Steelcase said it expects third-quarter sales of $785 million to $810 million. That would be up year-over-year, but below Visible Alpha’s mean analyst estimate of $815 million.
More Companies are Trying to Fill their Offices
Steelcase’s projections comes as a growing number of firms struggle to get workers back into offices and try to roll back the remote working benefits they offered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told the tech and retail giant’s workers this week that, starting in 2025, five days a week of in-office work would be the norm. It isn’t alone: Other companies that have called for workers to return to the office full time include banks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and retail giant Walmart (WMT).
Experts say it’s unlikely that companies will return entirely to the work patterns they had before the pandemic. Still, Steelcase said that it expects a return to growth in orders from its largest corporate customers in the second half.