Home furnishing retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY: Quote), said Wednesday its first quarter profit grew 24 percent from last year on a five percent growth in sales, as well as lower tax expense. Quarterly earnings came in ahead of Street estimates, while sales missed expectations.
Moving forward, Bed Bath & Beyond provided a weak earnings outlook for the second quarter, prompting the stock to plunge over 10 percent in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq.
Union, New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond operates a chain of retail stores, selling an array of domestics merchandise and home furnishings. The company has been sustaining profit increases over the past years.
For the first quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond reported net income of $206.8 million or $0.89 per share, up from $180.6 million or $0.72 per share last year. On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.85 per share for the quarter. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Sales for the quarter totaled $2.22 billion, compared to $2.11 billion last year. Nineteen analysts estimated sales of $2.25 billion for the quarter.
On a same-store basis, sales were up 3 percent in the quarter, compared with a 7 percent growth last year.
At the end of the quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond operated 1,180 stores, including 995 namesake stores, 72 Christmas Tree Shops stores, and 68 buybuy BABY stores.
During the first quarter 2012, the company repurchased nearly 4.6 million of its common stock for about $306 million. As of May 26, the company had a balance of $613 million under its share repurchase program.
Bed Bath & Beyond expects second quarter earnings of $0.97 to $1.03 per share, while analysts currently expect earnings of $1.08 per share. The company continues to expect full year 2012 earnings to increase by a high single to a low double digit percentage.
Bed Bath & Beyond in May agreed to acquire retailer Cost Plus Inc. (CPWM ) for about $494 million. If the tender offer for the acquisition is completed in the second quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond's modeling of earnings per share would decrease by several cents for the quarter. The acquisition is estimated to be slightly accretive to fiscal 2012 earnings, after certain related costs.
BBBY closed Wednesday at $73.67, down $1.05 or 1.41%, on a volume of about 4 million shares on the Nasdaq. In after hours, the stock plunged $7.57 or 10.28%. In the past year, the stock has traded in a range $48.75 - $75.84.
 | | To receive FREE breaking news email alerts for Bed Bath & Beyond Inc and others in your portfolio |
|
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News