MW Williams-Sonoma offers latest signal of a rebounding furniture market

By Steve Gelsi

Home-goods giant boosts its sales outlook on stronger sales of furniture and other goods

Williams-Sonoma has boosted its same-store sales outlook.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. credited the upbeat performance of its furniture business as it boosted its revenue outlook on Wednesday, making the San Francisco-based company the latest to indicate an uptick in that subsector.

The company (WSM) cited positive second-quarter comparable sales for furniture and for nonfurniture goods, as well as "strong" retail and online sales performance, all of which led it to hike its sales estimate for the full year.

The comments came after Wayfair Inc. (W) reported signs of a "bottomed-out" furniture market in its mostly upbeat quarterly report, which came out earlier this month.

But Williams-Sonoma's stock was down about 1% in morning action Wednesday, as the company signaled that tariff uncertainties could cause it to change its increased performance forecast.

For now, Williams-Sonoma expects full-year comparable-store sales to increase by 2% to 5%, up from its earlier projection of a range from flat performance to 3% growth. Analysts were expecting same-store sales to increase by 2.2%, according to FactSet data.

Williams-Sonoma also sees its 2025 revenue increasing by 0.5% to 3.5%, up from its previous forecast that called for between a 1.5% decline and a 1.5% rise. Analysts were modeling Williams-Sonoma's revenue to increase by 0.6% to $7.76 billion.

Williams-Sonoma said it continues to expect full-year operating margins of 17.4% to 17.8% but noted that if it sees "material changes" in tariff policy, it may revisit its guidance.

President Donald Trump said in a social-media post Friday that the U.S. would review tariffs for furniture and make a decision within 50 days as he looked to push the industry to bring manufacturing back to former centers in the Carolinas and elsewhere.

During the second quarter, Williams-Sonoma said it built up its merchandise inventories by 17.7% to $1.4 billion, which included a "strategic pull forward of receipts to reduce the impact of higher tariffs in fiscal 2025."

Williams-Sonoma's second-quarter net income rose to $247.56 million, or $2 a share, from $216.86 million, or $1.67 a share, in the year-ago quarter.

The owner of Pottery Barn, West Elm and Williams Sonoma stores beat the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.81 a share.

Second-quarter sales rose to $1.84 billion from $1.79 billion in the year-ago period and and beat the consensus view of $1.83 billion.

Including Wednesday's trading, Williams-Sonoma's stock has risen 5.8% in 2025, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained about 10.1%.

-Steve Gelsi

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August 27, 2025 11:37 ET (15:37 GMT)

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