Household retailer and meme stock darling Bed Bath & Beyond (US:BBBY) posted a weak earnings report for the second quarter on Thursday, showing growing losses and weakening sales in a challenging economic climate.

The company said its quarterly sales fell to $1.44 billion, a 28% drop compared to the year ago’s $1.99 billion; more importantly, same-store sales, numbers for stores open more than a year tumbled 26%.

The company’s shares fell 60 cents, to $5,86, a 9% decline.

Bed Bath’s net loss grew to $366 million, compared with a loss of $73 million a year ago. Gross margins also fell, slipping to 27.7% from 30.3%, as it had to discount inventory to move it.
The company had $135.3 million cash on hand at quarter end, well below the more than $900 million it had a year ago but ahead of $107.5 million earlier this year.

The stock is down nearly 72% over the past year through Wednesday’s close. The company’s shares have gyrated in an iteration of the meme-stock frenzy that drove up the stock of other troubled companies, including GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings.

Bed Bath & Beyond is closing about 20% of its namesake stores or roughly 150 locations. It also eliminated about a fifth of its corporate and supply-chain staff.

Analysts said the respite could be temporary if Bed Bath & Beyond can’t arrest the sales decline.

Wall Street expected the company to post an adjusted EBITDA loss of about $125 million, versus a year ago’s$224 million loss, and revenue to fall 26%.

For earnings per share, the Street expected a loss of $1.77.

Bed Bath & Beyond shares had a wild rise over 2022, with shares cooling off highs from the pandemic and, more recently, from a short selling squeeze that occurred in August after retail meme traders got behind the stock.
The stock is currently trading -58% lower year to date.

BBBY is the 80th most held security by retail investors who have linked their portfolio free with the Fintel platform. The stock rose one rank this week with buying activity in anticipation of the upcoming results.

The month before the result, BBBY’s CFO and EVP Gustavo Arnal passed away on the 2nd of September. The group’s Chief Accounting Officer, Laura Crossen, was appointed interim CFO in the following days.

The company is also continuing its search for a new CEO but is not expected to secure a new appointment until 2023.

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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