Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) reported its fiscal second quarter financial results on Thursday after the markets closed. The company had $1.21 in earnings per share (EPS) on $3.00 billion in revenue compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates that call for $1.21 in EPS on $3.03 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $1.17 in EPS on $2.94 billion in revenue.

Net sales increased approximately 1.7% from the second quarter of fiscal 2014.  At the same time, on a constant currency basis net sales increased by roughly 2.2%. Comparable sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 increased by approximately 0.7%, compared with an increase of approximately 3.4% in last year’s fiscal second quarter.

The board of directors has authorized a new $2.5 billion share repurchase program which commences after completion of the existing share repurchase program which has a remaining balance of approximately $305 million.

CEO Steven Temares said:

We are pleased that we have been able to make significant investments in people and technology to position our Company for continued successful growth in the ever evolving retail environment, while at the same time, returning value to our shareholders through share repurchases. Our Board authorized this new share repurchase program based upon its continued confidence in our Company’s long-term growth potential, financial outlook and cash flow generation, and it is anticipated that this $2.5 billion share repurchase program will be funded from current cash and future cash flows.  That said, our Company’s Board of Directors continues to review our capital structure on an ongoing basis.

On the books, cash, cash equivalents and short term investment securities totaled $696.5 million for this quarter compared to $1.29 billion at the end of the same period from the previous year.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond closed Thursday down 0.9% at $59.33 on its 52-week trading range of $58.81 to $79.64. Following the release of the earnings report, shares traded down 3.1% at $57.52 in the after-hours session. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $72.88.

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