MLHR Investment Analysis Report & Stock Research, Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller, Inc. (MLHR)

MLHR Stock Report

2-Year Price History

View Larger MLHR Chart
NASDAQ:MLHR
$18.08
(3/19 4:00PM)
-4.5%
Open$19.06 Mkt Cap$1.0 Billion
High$19.06 52Wk High$20.48
Low$18.06 52Wk Low$10.21
Volume1.0 Million Avg Vol 10D551,500

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MLHR Revenue

For a long time, value investors have used the current share price relative to sales per share levels as an important valuation tool. We utilize a historical weighted average methodology that treats recent years more importantly in the calculation. When looking at MLHR through this framework, we can see that our weighted average historical high and low Price to Sales per share ratios over the last 10 years are 1.31x and 0.75x respectively.

Utilizing this range we can see that MLHR’s current Price to Sales per share ratio of 0.77x is significantly below its average levels historically. In fact, with a current price of $18.08, MLHR is a full 26% below its average Price to Sales ratio at comparable sales levels. This is a rare occurrence and, when taken in context of the other areas of our analysis, can be a strong positive for our outlook for MLHR.

MLHR Cash Earnings

As the old saying goes, "Cash is King!" We look at reported Cash Earnings, but the main emphasis of our analysis involves stripping out non-cash events such as depreciation from our cash earnings analysis. This helps us view the cash flows more clearly. Nevertheless, an analysis of Cash Earnings (both reported and otherwise) is absolutely pivotal to assessing a company's value, and currently MLHR is below its historical average multiple of cash earnings as calculated by Ockham. Similar to our analysis of sales per share, Ockham looks at the last 10 years of cash earnings levels for MLHR to identify where the current high and low price levels have been historically in relation to profit per share. Again, we utilize a weighted average methodology which relies more heavily on recent years of data. This weighted average framework provides us with an average high Price to Cash Earnings ratio per share of 22.42 and a 12.58 low over the same period.

With a historical average Cash Earnings ratio of 17.50, the current Cash Earnings ratio of 16.44 is a positive opportunity for value in the Ockham view. Naturally, we would love to see a deeper value opportunity for MLHR, but to get there one of two things must occur (or both). Either the stock price must decline further to increase the long term buying opportunity, or the management at MLHR needs to earn more cash. If either, or both, of these occur, then we could see a significant gap emerge between what investors were willing to pay for in the past, and where MLHR is trading currently (latest close price of $18.08).

MLHR Dividends

While it is not necessary to pay an attractive dividend or a dividend at all, to receive a positive rating from Ockham, we view dividends as an additionally helpful measure in determining the future potential of any company.

In MLHR’s case, the estimated annual dividend is $0.09 resulting in a current dividend yield of 0.50%. Similar to our review of Sales and Cash Earnings per share, we evaluate dividend yields from MLHR against the historic high and low levels over the past 10 years. The highest dividend yield from MLHR over this period was 3.68% while the lowest dividend yield was 0.44% While it is quite common for a growth stock to pay no dividend at all, but for a mature company such as MLHR that has a history of paying dividends it is disappointing to see their dividend yield drop so significantly. At this time, the current dividend yield is 75.73% below the median yield.

Peer Comparison

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Herman Miller, Inc. Industry Grouping

(3/19/2010)
Company Ticker Market Cap (Ml) Latest
Price
Price/Cash Earnings Price/Sales 5-Yr. Rev.
Growth Rate
5-Yr.
Avg. ROE.
Current 10-Yr. Range* Current 10-Yr. Range*
Peer Company Averages (not including MLHR) 30.83 5.09 » 37.18 2.17 0.34 » 2.68 10.23% 12.33%
*10 year range does not include current year values
HNI Corp. HNI $1.2 Billion $26.17 17.22 3.47 » 19.29 0.71 0.16 » 1.47 -4.58% 16.86%
Pool Corp. POOL $1.1 Billion $22.91 35.05 8.57 » 39.68 0.71 0.34 » 1.35 3.27% 25.84%
Coinstar, Inc. CSTR $1.0 Billion $32.62 6.13 3.61 » 29.79 0.85 0.49 » 4.90 30.10% 6.33%
Herman Miller, Inc. MLHR $1.0 Billion $18.08 16.44 4.02 » 74.98 0.77 0.27 » 1.59 4.02% 339.12%
Imax Corp. IMAX $980.1 Million $15.55 83.58 5.30 » 73.00 6.76 0.15 » 3.70 -2.29% 0.00%
National Presto Industries Inc NPK $866.9 Million $126.42 12.16 4.48 » 24.17 1.81 0.56 » 2.01 24.66% 12.62%
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Squawk On The Street

News on MLHR From the Pundits on Squawk On The Street

The latest news from Squawk On The Street on MLHR is available through Ockham's news analytics platform RazorWire.

The Ockham valuation currently has a Fairly Valued stance on MLHR because it trades within the price range that we would expect given current market conditions and fundamentals. When taking into account the amount of news coverage each stock normally sees as a percentage of the total, Herman Miller, Inc. has actually sunk a bit in comparison to the others. Our sentiment indicator, provided through the Motley Fool CAPS survey, suggests that investors are neutral overall towards MLHR and think that it will generally perform in-line with the S&P 500.

“… HERMAN MILLER, the office furniture maker, missed on earnings. However, it said that new orders are actually up after five straight quarters of going down. …”

Zero Hedge

Delevoping Economies and Where MLHR Fits In on Zero Hedge

Herman Miller, Inc. and an emerging market growth strategy were discussed recently on MLHR.

Our sentiment indicator, provided through the Motley Fool CAPS survey, suggests that investors are neutral overall towards MLHR and think that it will generally perform in-line with the S&P 500. When taking into account the amount of news coverage each stock normally sees as a percentage of the total, Herman Miller, Inc. has actually sunk a bit in comparison to the others. The Ockham valuation currently has a Fairly Valued stance on MLHR because it trades within the price range that we would expect given current market conditions and fundamentals.

“… HERMAN MILLER swings to Q3 profit of $8. 3M, misses f'casts. Revs fell 7% to $329. 6M. Kraft to cut sodium levels in North American products by 10 percent. …”

Zero Hedge

Herman Miller, Inc. News is Being Covered Right Now on Zero Hedge

As always, the latest news on MLHR is available to Ockham clients through RazorWire, and it was mentioned recently on Zero Hedge.

Herman Miller, Inc. receives our Fairly Valued rating in our latest report because the current price does not seem out of line with the fundamentals. The Motley Fool CAPS crowd believes this stock will perform generally in line with the benchmark, or in other words the crowd is neutral. We noticed recently that in comparison to all other stocks we analyze in the news; MLHR has received less coverage from the financial media in business television and blogs.

“… Earnings Calendar: ATU, AXAS, COMS, CWCO, DNE, IHS, LUB, MLHR, NKE, PATK. RECENT RATING ACTIONSSUNTRUST BANKS INC (STI)HEXCEL CORP (HXL)AMR CORP (AMR)LTD BRANDS INC (LTD)TRINITY ... …”

Street Smart With Carol Massar and Matt Miller

Street Smart With Carol Massar and Matt Miller Has Something to Say About MLHR and Regulators

RazorWire news analytics has noted a discussion of MLHR that may be related to a regulators or the Fed on Street Smart With Carol Massar and Matt Miller.

Crowd sentiment is neutral from the millions of opinions submitted through Motley Fool CAPS, which suggests most investors on their platform believe Herman Miller, Inc. will perform just about the same as the index. As we analyze the results from RazorWire, one thing we do is rank each stock in terms of amount of news coverage. Recently, MLHR has been less covered in the news compared to the rest of our universe of stocks. After factoring in the current fundamentals versus their historically normal ranges, we have established a Fairly Valued stance on MLHR.

“… HERMAN MILLER is down after being cut off to market, down about 2%. The fed made no change in its policy and almost no change in its statement. What did they do? …”

Countdown to the Closing Bell

Regulators Interested in MLHR? Possibly as Both Were Discussed on Countdown to the Closing Bell

Countdown to the Closing Bell talked recently regarding regulatory issues and Herman Miller, Inc., while these two issues may not be related we though it worth noting.

When taking into account the amount of news coverage each stock normally sees as a percentage of the total, Herman Miller, Inc. has actually sunk a bit in comparison to the others. The Ockham valuation currently has a Fairly Valued stance on MLHR because it trades within the price range that we would expect given current market conditions and fundamentals. Our sentiment indicator, provided through the Motley Fool CAPS survey, suggests that investors are neutral overall towards MLHR and think that it will generally perform in-line with the S&P 500.

“… HERMAN MILLER is down after being cut off to market, down about 2%. The fed made no change in its policy and almost no change in its statement. What did they do? …”

Countdown to the Closing Bell

Herman Miller, Inc. (MLHR) Discussed on Fox Business's Countdown to the Closing Bell

Herman Miller, Inc. is in the news. Find out how this impacts MLHR trading on Ockham Research.

Investors are hoping the government won't sell its stake too soon. >> it is up 292% since march. It's still not over $5. Number four, HERMAN MILLER furniture maker fourth quarter profits down. The company noted stabilizing market signs. Number three, amr, nicole petallides mentioned the floor earlier, up 19 points, 5%. This is the parent of american air lines, raising stock 2.9% in fresh funding.

“… nicole petallides mentioned the floor earlier, up 19 points, 5%. This is the parent of american air lines, raising stock 2.9% in fresh funding. …”

Squawk On The Street

Herman Miller, Inc. (MLHR) Discussed on CNBC's Squawk On The Street

Herman Miller, Inc. is in the news. Find out how this impacts MLHR trading on Ockham Research.

Bed bad &beyond gets an upgrade. Dress barn is up. Her man HERMAN MILLER getting a bounce. And let's move over to the nymex and sharon epperson. >> nigeria is starting to mat

“… Bed bad &beyond gets an upgrade. Dress barn is up. Her man HERMAN MILLER getting a bounce. And let's move over to the nymex and sharon epperson. >> nigeria is starting to mat …”

Bulls & Bears

Herman Miller, Inc. (MLHR) Discussed on Fox Business's Bulls & Bears

Herman Miller, Inc. is in the news. Find out how this impacts MLHR trading on Ockham Research.

>> they include oriental rugs and a louie the 14th tapestry. >> I just want the HERMAN MILLER is that a lot to ask? >> it's not a lot to ask. There is serious stuff going on. Iranian protests turned deadly

“… >> they include oriental rugs and a louie the 14th tapestry. >> I just want the HERMAN MILLER is that a lot to ask? >> it's not a lot to ask. There is serious stuff going on. Iranian protests turned deadly …”

Fox Business

Herman Miller, Inc. (MLHR) Discussed on Fox Business's Fox Business

Herman Miller, Inc. is in the news. Find out how this impacts MLHR trading on Ockham Research.

Even economic hardship brings opportunities. We just saw for every office that shuts down, there is a pile of unused office supplies looking for a home. >> liz: HERMAN MILLER chairs, somebody working to get the en pencils and pads and everything else to folks who can use them ahead on fox

“… olks who can use them ahead on fox …”

Countdown to the Closing Bell

Herman Miller, Inc. (MLHR) Discussed on Fox Business's Countdown to the Closing Bell

Herman Miller, Inc. is in the news. Find out how this impacts MLHR trading on Ockham Research.

>> liz: okay. Thanks. >> liz: exactly. He makes a great point. Crazy with the cash burn rate. Use odd be the dot-com had the cash burn rate because they bought the HERMAN MILLER chairs. Holland is laughing. It's a dog eat dog world out with the markets mercilessly volatile, the next guest is mike holland, chairman an of

“… rcilessly volatile, the next guest is mike holland, chairman an of …”

View All Herman Miller, Inc. Stock News

Key Fundamentals

MLHR - Herman Miller, Inc. Fundamentals
Price (3/19 4:00PM) $18.08
Volume (3/19 4:00PM) 1.0 Million
Last Close Price $18.94
10 Day Average Volume 551,500
13 Week Price Range $15.93 - $20.48
52 Week Price Range $10.21 - $20.48
LTM Revenue $1.3 Billion
 
Shares Outstanding (05/2009) 55.9 Million
Market Capitalization $1.0 Billion
Shares Held By Institutions 41.8 Million
Institutional Holders 221
% Shares Held By Institutions 74.90%
Earnings Per Share (EPS) $1.25
P/E Ratio 31.70
Book Value Per Share $1.01
 
Gross Margin 35.00%
Annual Dividend 0.09
Dividend Yield 0.50%
Beta 1.13
Fiscal Year Ends May

About Herman Miller, Inc.

Herman Miller, Inc. is considered to operate in the Consumer Goods sector. They specifically operate in the Business Equipment business segment contained within the Consumer Durables industry.

The Company researches, designs, manufactures and distributes interior furnishings for use in various environments including office, healthcare, educational and residential settings, and provides related services that support companies all over the world.