Should Bed Bath & Beyond Get More Credit for Q4?
April 11, 2019 by Chris LangeWhen Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) released its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Wednesday, the company said that it had $1.20 in earnings per share (EPS) and $3.31 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates had called for $1.11 in EPS and $3.33 billion in revenue, and the same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $1.48 on revenue of $3.72 billion.
During the fourth quarter, net sales decreased roughly 11.0% compared to the prior-year period, primarily due to one less week in the quarter compared to 14 weeks in fiscal 2017 and a shift in the calendar that moved the post-Thanksgiving holiday sales week out of the fourth quarter.
Comparable sales in the fiscal 2018 fourth quarter declined about 1.4% and included strong sales growth from customer-facing digital channels and sales from stores that declined in the mid-single-digit percentage range.
Looking ahead to the fiscal full year, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $2.11 to $2.20. Consensus estimates call for $1.79 in EPS and $11.75 billion in revenue for the year.
Steven Temares, CEO and member of the board of directors, commented:
During the fourth quarter and throughout fiscal 2018, we have been driving significant foundational change across our business. The pace of our transformation accelerated during fiscal 2018 and we made measurable progress within each of our four focus areas of our plan. While this is a multiyear effort, our Board and management team are confident that the actions underway to drive our near-term and long-term financial targets will enable Bed Bath & Beyond to succeed and drive shareholder value. In fiscal 2019, we are modeling our operating profit, even including the investments in initiatives, to stabilize, and earnings per share to grow slightly, and for both to accelerate thereafter, as the impact from many of our key initiatives grows and we take advantage of the significant operating leverage of our business.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond were last seen down about 9% at $17.60, in a 52-week range of $10.46 to $21.74. The consensus price target is $16.27.
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