Bed Bath & Beyond Q1 Profit Tops Street

(RTTNews) - Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) on Wednesday reported a first-quarter profit that trumped Wall Street estimates, despite 6% drop in revenues. The home goods retailer's revenues for the quarter fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Union, New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond reported first-quarter loss of $371.1 million or $2.91 per share, compared with last year's profit of $43.6 million or $0.32 per share last year.

Profit for the quarter was hurt largely by a non-cash goodwill and trade-name impairments charge. Excluding one-time items, earnings for the quarter were $0.12 per share. On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.08 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter dropped 6.6% to $2.57 billion from $2.75 billion last year. Analysts had a consensus sales estimate of $2.58 billion for the quarter. Comparable sales in the quarter decreased by about 6.6 percent.

Interim CEO Mary Winston said, "Bed Bath & Beyond is an iconic brand with tremendous opportunity and we recognize that there needs to be a fundamental change in our approach to executing the Company's business transformation. We have set four key near-term priorities that include stabilizing and driving top-line growth; resetting the cost structure; reviewing and optimizing the Company's asset base, including our portfolio of retail banners; and refining our organization structure."

Looking forward, Bed Bath & Beyond now expects fiscal year 2019 results "to be at the lower end of its previously provided ranges" of $11.4 billion to $11.7 billion for net sales and $2.11 to $2.20 for earnings per share. Analysts currently estimate earnings of $1.98 a share and revenues of $11.48 billion.

BBBY closed Wednesday's trading at $11.52, up $0.08 or 0.70% on the Nasdaq. The stock further gained $0.24 or 2.08% in the after-hours trade.