Office furniture manufacturer Steelcase (NYSE: SCS) reported Q3 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 4.8% year on year to $897.1 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.45 per share was 23.3% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

Founded in 1912 when metal office furniture was replacing wooden alternatives, Steelcase (NYSE: SCS) is a global office furniture manufacturer that designs and produces workplace solutions including desks, chairs, architectural products, and services.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years.

With $3.26 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Steelcase is a mid-sized business services company, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from better economies of scale.

As you can see below, Steelcase struggled to increase demand as its $3.26 billion of sales for the trailing 12 months was close to its revenue five years ago. This shows demand was soft, a tough starting point for our analysis.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Just like its five-year trend, Steelcase’s revenue over the last two years was flat, suggesting it is in a slump.

This quarter, Steelcase reported modest year-on-year revenue growth of 4.8% but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 2.7%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.1% over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products and services will catalyze better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.

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Operating Margin

Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after subtracting all core expenses, like marketing and R&D.

Steelcase was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 2.8% was weak for a business services business.

On the plus side, Steelcase’s operating margin rose by 3 percentage points over the last five years.

This quarter, Steelcase generated an operating margin profit margin of 5.9%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Steelcase’s EPS was flat over the last five years, just like its revenue. This performance was underwhelming across the board.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

For Steelcase, its two-year annual EPS growth of 23.8% was higher than its five-year trend. This acceleration made it one of the faster-growing business services companies in recent history.

In Q3, Steelcase reported adjusted EPS of $0.45, up from $0.39 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Steelcase’s full-year EPS of $1.21 to shrink by 1.2%.

Key Takeaways from Steelcase’s Q3 Results

It was good to see Steelcase beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also glad its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this was a solid print. The stock traded up 1.4% to $16.92 immediately after reporting.

Sure, Steelcase had a solid quarter, but if we look at the bigger picture, is this stock a buy? If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free.