Herman Miller (Nasdaq: MLHR) came in right in line with the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors are hoping that it will beat them this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Wednesday, March 21. Herman Miller is engaged in the research, design, manufacture, and distribution of office furniture systems, products, and related services.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Herman Miller while the remaining half rate the stock as a buy Half of analysts think investors should stand pat on Herman Miller. Analysts like Herman Miller better than competitor HNI overall. One out of five analysts rate HNI a buy compared to two of four for Herman Miller. Analysts haven't adjusted their rating of Herman Miller for the past three months.
  • Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $409.6 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 1.2% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.25 per share. Estimates range from $0.24 to $0.28.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are strongly supporting the stock, with 97.9% assigning it an "outperform" rating. Most of the community agrees with the All-Stars, with 91.5% awarding it a rating of "outperform." Herman Miller has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Herman Miller's profit has risen year-over-year by an average of more than threefold over the past five quarters. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's get some insight into how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. Herman Miller's gross margins have increased year-over-year for the last four quarters. Gross margins reflect the total sales revenue retained after costs. Here is how Herman Miller has been doing for the last four quarters:

Quarter

Q2

Q1

Q4

Q3

Gross Margin

34.1%

33.7%

33.0%

32.1%

Operating Margin

9.1%

9.1%

7.1%

7.5%

Net Margin

5.3%

5.4%

3.9%

4.8%

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