Bed, Bath & Beyond Falls Short Again
Bed, Bath & Beyond reported disappointing first-quarter fiscal 2014 earnings after markets closed Wednesday.
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Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) reported first-quarter fiscal 2014 earnings after markets closed Wednesday. The home furnishings company reported diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.93 on revenue of $2.66 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported EPS of $0.93 on revenue of $2.61 billion. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.94 and $2.69 billion in revenue.
Same-store sales for the quarter rose 0.4%, compared with a rise of 3.4% in the first quarter a year ago.
For the second quarter, the company guides earnings in the range of $1.08 to $1.16. For the full fiscal year, BB&B says net earnings will rise by “a mid single digit percentage.” The consensus estimates called for second quarter EPS of $1.20 and full-year EPS of $5.05.
The company repurchased approximately $273 million in common stock during the quarter and has $861 million remaining in its existing share buyback program.
Bed, Bath & Beyond’s own estimate for first quarter earnings was a range of $0.92 to $1.02 and the firm just managed to make it above the bottom of the range. Even analysts cut earnings estimates way back, from $1.03 three months ago. That the company can’t even clear a very low bar is not good news going forward.
As we noted when BB&Y missed expectations at the end of the previous quarter, the secular growth story here has reached its end and with a forward multiple of around 11, the company wants to stake its claim as a value stock. That hasn’t happened yet.
Shares are getting pounded in after-hours trading, down nearly 6% at $57.58, below the stock’s 52-week range of $559.89 to $80.82. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $69.40 before the results were announced.
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Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.
He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.
