Quick Take: What's Furniture Brands' Game?

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Is there method to Furniture Brands' (NYSE: FBN) madness?

Earlier this week, the company behind such famed furniture brands (see where the name comes from?) as Thomasville and Broyhill warned that its sales will decline 12% year over year in Q3, and that $0.22 in restructuring and other costs would net it a loss of somewhere between $0.19 and $0.23. But if you recall, the company issued similarly dire warnings just before releasing its Q2 numbers last month -- numbers that turned out to be a heck of a lot better than we were led to believe.

Also meanwhile, Furniture Brands rival, Hooker Furniture (Nasdaq: HOFT), just reported better-than-expected numbers. Does this suggest that FBN may be lowballing the analysts in hopes of exceeding expectations next month? Don't miss our "Foolish Forecast," which will run a few days before the release, where we'll digest all the most recent news and make a best guess.

For similarly mixed next-door news in the office furniture space, read about Herman Miller's (Nasdaq: MLHR) soft guidance for the current quarter, and rival Steelcase's (NYSE: SCS) report.