Office Furniture Industry - Down 6% Rocks!

How bad are things when down 6% is actually good? Seems we are going to find out, because according to office furniture analyst Budd Bugatch, February's office furniture orders decline of 6% marks the smallest monthly percentage decline since October of 2008. Bugatch was commenting on the release of the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) February 2010 market statistics; February orders down 6% vs. February of 2009, and February shipments down 15%.

Bugatch went onto say that "Net-net, the February statistics were encouraging, and consistent with our view that the industry is approaching a meaningful trough." Bugatch is backing up his belief with reaffirmations of his earlier upgrades:

• Herman Miller: Reaffirmed Market Perform
• Knoll: Reaffirmed Strong Buy
• HNI (parent of Allsteel); Reaffirmed Outperform

Importantly for those of us in the industry who are still hanging on, Bugatch also commented; "we believe we are at the headwaters of multiple years of revenue growth and margin expansion".

Budd, I hope you are right!