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