Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Worthington Steel, Karman, MillerKnoll and more

MillerKnoll shares plunged 14% after fiscal Q3 adjusted EPS of $0.43 on revenue of $926.6M (EPS -2% YoY, revenue +6%), and the company warned of an ~$8M–$9M Q4 hit from the Middle East conflict due to minimal shipments and higher logistics costs. Worthington Steel fell ~14% after Q3 adjusted EPS dropped to $0.27 from $0.35 a year ago. Karman slipped slightly after Q4 adjusted EPS of $0.11 missed the $0.12 FactSet consensus while revenue beat at $134.5M vs. $132.6M expected. Celcuity dropped nearly 4% despite a narrower Q4 loss of $0.97/share vs. a $1.04 consensus and R&D of $37.6M in line with estimates.

Analysis

MillerKnoll's guidance shock is as much about logistics reflexivity as it is about end demand — rerouted shipments, insurance and container re-stacking impose front-loaded margin pain for furniture firms that operate long, fragmented supply chains. That dynamic favors competitors with shorter lead times or vertically integrated supply (Steelcase, certain contract-focused players) and creates a near-term pricing lever for large retailers to pull inventory onto promotion, amplifying channel-level revenue volatility over the next 1–3 quarters.

Worthington Steel's move signals the market is repricing cyclicality in processed-steel margins rather than structural loss of business; scrap spreads, auto build rates and mill maintenance cadence will govern earnings variability. Expect meaningful correlation with ISM/manufacturing prints and scrap indexes — meaningful directional signals can arrive within a month and will persist across 2–6 quarters if industrial activity softens.

Karman is a classic mid-cycle name where backlog conversion and government/prime procurement cadence matter more than one quarter's EPS noise; revenue beats but margin lability suggest timing exposure to contract awards or funding notices. Celcuity remains a volatility play: limited near-term spend risk but asymmetric upside around binary clinical or partnering catalysts, appropriate only in small, event-driven sizing.

Net: the market is overstating near-term earnings loss as permanent for industrial names and pricing optionality for small-cap biotech. That creates a short-window to establish hedged, time-limited option structures and pairs that capture mean-reversion in supply-chain normalization or continued cyclic weakness if macro prints deteriorate.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Short MLKN via a 6–9 month put spread (buy ATM put, sell lower strike to fund) sized 1–1.5% NAV; pair with a small long in SCS (steelcase) sized to match furniture-demand beta — target 30–40% nominal on the spread, stop-and-reassess if MLKN rallies >15% from entry or geopolitics materially de-escalates within 60 days.
• Pair trade: short WS vs long NUE (Nucor) for 3–6 months, 1% NAV each leg — rationale: processors' margins compress faster than integrated mills in a demand slump. Target ~25% relative outperformance; hard stop if scrap index tightens >15% or ISM manufacturing surprises to the upside by >3pts.
• Directional on KRMN: buy a 3–6 month call spread (limit premium) sized 0.5–1% NAV to capture backlog conversion and defense funding clarity. Reward if contract awards/revenue cadence re-accelerates; max loss = premium, target 2–3x on a positive award or guide-up.
• Speculative long on CELC via a small (0.25–0.5% NAV) out-of-the-money call or call spread into the next clinical/partnering window — asymmetric payoff with limited premium at risk; trim to breakeven if no catalyst materializes within 3 months.