Steelcase Rises After Q3 Results

Steelcase SCS is up more than two percent in after hours trading after the company announced its third quarter results. The company reported a Q3 EPS of $0.18 ($0.19 adjusted) versus the Street estimate of $0.26. Earnings per share were down 14 percent from the year-ago period, Revenue came in at $784.8 million versus the Street estimate of $766.03 million. Sales were up eight percent year-over-year. "The strong performance in the Americas continues to illustrate our competitive advantage related to helping our customers amplify organizational performance through the modernization of their spaces," James P. Hackett, CEO of Steelcase, said in a company release. "We expect the momentum in the Americas to be further propelled by the launch of Gesture, which is now shipping to customers, and other new products expected to begin shipping in the fourth quarter and early next fiscal year. We recently announced changes in our EMEA manufacturing footprint as part of our multi-year strategy to improve revenue and the fitness of our business model in EMEA, and we continue to believe that EMEA and Asia Pacific are key parts of our long-term global strategy." Year-to-date, Steelcase has performed fairly well, recovering from a serious decline during the spring (the firm hit a 2013 low of $12.17 on May 1). As of December 17, Steelcase was up more than 17 percent this year, and up more than 32 percent over the last 12 months. Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.