These Two Stocks Register Big Gains for Different Reasons

Herman Miller, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLHR)‘s stock opened over 5% higher on Thursday after the company said that its net sales went up by almost 11% on the year to $565.4 million at the end of August. Its earnings per share surged to $0.56 per share from $0.42 a year earlier. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.47 per share. Herman Miller, which designs and sells office furniture, also said it expects sales between $570 million and $590 million for the current quarter, which would imply a 5% annual growth. The company also expects EPS in the range of $0.52 and $0.56, which is above the current analyst estimates. Among the funds from our database, Herman Miller, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLHR) also lost some fans during the second quarter, but the overall sentiment is bleak. Between April and June, the number of funds with long positions in the company fell by three to 18, while the aggregate value of their positions went up to $82.82 million from $72.87 million a quarter earlier, fueled by a 5% growth of the stock. However, at the end of the second quarter these investors held less than 5% of Herman Miller, Inc. (NASDAQ:MLHR)’s outstanding stock. More specifically, Robert Polak’s Anchor Bolt Capital upped its stake by 93% on the quarter to around 599,800 shares, followed by Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates, which disclosed holding 371,000 shares and Sahm Adrangi’s Kerrisdale Capital, which initiated a stake with 366,800 shares.

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