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.