Bed, Bath & Beyond's Earnings: Price Cutting Beyond the Norm

For its third-quarter (ending November 29), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) just reported earnings of 34 cents a share (Call Transcript). That’s pretty ugly, but honestly, it’s not bad considering the crappy environment the company is in. The earnings were a penny below the Street's consensus, and the company earned 52 cents a share for last year's Q3. Sales came in at $1.783 billion which was slightly below last year’s Q3. Same-store sales were just ugly, down 5.6%.

The company sees Q4 EPS coming in at 40 to 46 cents which is less than the 49 cents the Street was expecting.

Here are the earnings results going back a few years:

Quarter	Sales	Gross Profit	Operating Profit	Net Profit	EPS
	$356,633	$146,214	$28,015	$17,883	$0.06
	$451,715	$185,570	$53,580	$33,247	$0.12
	$480,145	$196,784	$50,607	$31,707	$0.11
	$569,012	$238,233	$77,138	$48,392	$0.17
	$459,163	$187,293	$36,339	$23,364	$0.08
	$589,381	$241,284	$70,009	$43,578	$0.15
	$602,004	$246,080	$64,592	$40,665	$0.14
	$746,107	$311,802	$101,898	$64,315	$0.22
	$575,833	$234,959	$45,602	$30,007	$0.10
	$713,636	$291,342	$84,672	$53,954	$0.18
	$759,438	$311,030	$83,749	$52,964	$0.18
	$879,055	$370,235	$132,077	$82,674	$0.28
	$776,798	$318,362	$72,701	$46,299	$0.15
	$903,044	$370,335	$119,687	$75,459	$0.25
	$936,030	$386,224	$119,228	$75,112	$0.25
	$1,049,292	$443,626	$168,441	$105,309	$0.35
	$893,868	$367,180	$90,450	$57,508	$0.19
	$1,111,445	$459,145	$155,867	$97,208	$0.32
	$1,174,740	$486,987	$161,459	$100,506	$0.33
	$1,297,928	$563,352	$231,567	$144,248	$0.47
	$1,100,917	$456,774	$128,707	$82,049	$0.27
	$1,273,960	$530,829	$189,108	$120,008	$0.39
	$1,305,155	$548,152	$190,978	$121,927	$0.40
	$1,467,646	$650,546	$283,621	$180,980	$0.59
	$1,244,421	$520,781	$150,884	$98,903	$0.33
	$1,431,182	$601,784	$217,877	$141,402	$0.47
	$1,448,680	$615,363	$205,493	$134,620	$0.45
	$1,685,279	$747,820	$304,917	$197,922	$0.67
	$1,395,963	$590,098	$148,750	$100,431	$0.35
	$1,607,239	$678,249	$219,622	$145,535	$0.51
	$1,619,240	$704,073	$211,134	$142,436	$0.50
	$1,994,987	$862,982	$309,895	$205,842	$0.72
	$1,553,293	$646,109	$154,391	$104,647	$0.38
	$1,767,716	$732,158	$211,037	$147,008	$0.55
	$1,794,747	$747,866	$203,152	$138,232	$0.52
	$1,933,186	$799,098	$259,442	$172,921	$0.66
	$1,648,491	$656,000	$118,819	$76,777	$0.30
	$1,853,892	$739,321	$187,421	$119,268	$0.46
	$1,782,683	$692,857	$136,374	$87,700	$0.34

Here's the company's trailing four-quarter earnings-per-share. The two red lines show the upper and lower band of the company's projection.

Click to enlarge

It's not hard to find the squeaky wheel. Take at look at the operating margins:

Click to enlarge

That's based on trailing four quarter numbers. This means the company is doing a lot of price-cutting.

Disclosure: None

Comments

[AJB7:]

Question: Is there some easily accessible way to obtain quarterly sales and EPS going back for so many years as is the case here with BBBY?

Jan 08 07:13 AM

[johnniemarg:]

last chart looks like a rough match with the housing bubble peak and bust. See where it took off? Greenspan's response to 9/11...cut interest rates relentlessly.

Jan 09 12:11 AM