Bed Bath & Beyond Earns $1.48 Per Share

Wow! A huge earnings beat from Bed Bath & Beyond ($BBBY). For fiscal Q4, the company earned $1.48 per share. That’s 15 cents better than Wall Street’s consensus. The stock is currently up about 6% after hours.

In December, Bed Bath & Beyond told us to expect Q4 results to range between $1.28 and $1.33 per share, so this was much better than expected. The earnings represented a 32% increase over Q4 of 2010. Quarterly sales rose by 9.1% and the key retailing metric, comparable store sales, rose by 6.8%.

For the year, Bed Bath & Beyond earned $4.06 per share which was also a 32% increase over the year before. Sales rose 8.5% to $9.5 billion. Comparable store sales rose by 5.9%.

Now for guidance. For Q1, Bed Bath & Beyond sees earnings ranging between 79 cents and 83 cents per share. For the full-year, they project earnings “to increase by a high single to a low double digit percentage range.” If we take that mean to 10%, that translates to a full-year forecast of $4.47 per share.

This is the twelfth-straight quarter than Bed Bath & Beyond has expanded its net margins. In the three years since fiscal 2009, total sales have grown by 32% but net earnings are up by 133%. The reason is that net profit margins increased from 5.9% in 2009 to 10.4% last year.

This is very good news. BBBY continues to exceed expectations. I said in December that I thought the Street’s forecast for 2012 of $4.39 was too high. Shows what I know.

At $70 per share and $4.47 for this coming year, the stock is currently going for 15.66 times earnings which isn’t that expensive. Given today’s huge earnings beat, I now have reason to believe that the company’s earnings forecast is on the low side (which is smart given that the fiscal year has just begun).

Here’s a look at BBBY’s earnings-per-share along with the company’s forecast in red. Notice how conservative the red line is.

Here’s a look at BBBY’s quarterly numbers for the past few years:

Quarter Sales Gross Profit Operating Profit Net Profit EPS
May-99 $356,633 $146,214 $28,015 $17,883 $0.06
Aug-99 $451,715 $185,570 $53,580 $33,247 $0.12
Nov-00 $480,145 $196,784 $50,607 $31,707 $0.11
Feb-00 $569,012 $238,233 $77,138 $48,392 $0.17
May-00 $459,163 $187,293 $36,339 $23,364 $0.08
Aug-00 $589,381 $241,284 $70,009 $43,578 $0.15
Nov-01 $602,004 $246,080 $64,592 $40,665 $0.14
Feb-01 $746,107 $311,802 $101,898 $64,315 $0.22
May-01 $575,833 $234,959 $45,602 $30,007 $0.10
Aug-01 $713,636 $291,342 $84,672 $53,954 $0.18
Nov-02 $759,438 $311,030 $83,749 $52,964 $0.18
Feb-02 $879,055 $370,235 $132,077 $82,674 $0.28
May-02 $776,798 $318,362 $72,701 $46,299 $0.15
Aug-02 $903,044 $370,335 $119,687 $75,459 $0.25
Nov-03 $936,030 $386,224 $119,228 $75,112 $0.25
Feb-03 $1,049,292 $443,626 $168,441 $105,309 $0.35
May-03 $893,868 $367,180 $90,450 $57,508 $0.19
Aug-03 $1,111,445 $459,145 $155,867 $97,208 $0.32
Nov-04 $1,174,740 $486,987 $161,459 $100,506 $0.33
Feb-04 $1,297,928 $563,352 $231,567 $144,248 $0.47
May-04 $1,100,917 $456,774 $128,707 $82,049 $0.27
Aug-04 $1,273,960 $530,829 $189,108 $120,008 $0.39
Nov-05 $1,305,155 $548,152 $190,978 $121,927 $0.40
Feb-05 $1,467,646 $650,546 $283,621 $180,980 $0.59
May-05 $1,244,421 $520,781 $150,884 $98,903 $0.33
Aug-05 $1,431,182 $601,784 $217,877 $141,402 $0.47
Nov-06 $1,448,680 $615,363 $205,493 $134,620 $0.45
Feb-06 $1,685,279 $747,820 $304,917 $197,922 $0.67
May-06 $1,395,963 $590,098 $148,750 $100,431 $0.35
Aug-06 $1,607,239 $678,249 $219,622 $145,535 $0.51
Nov-07 $1,619,240 $704,073 $211,134 $142,436 $0.50
Feb-07 $1,994,987 $862,982 $309,895 $205,842 $0.72
May-07 $1,553,293 $646,109 $154,391 $104,647 $0.38
Aug-07 $1,767,716 $732,158 $211,037 $147,008 $0.55
Nov-08 $1,794,747 $747,866 $203,152 $138,232 $0.52
Feb-08 $1,933,186 $799,098 $259,442 $172,921 $0.66
May-08 $1,648,491 $656,000 $118,819 $76,777 $0.30
Aug-08 $1,853,892 $739,321 $187,421 $119,268 $0.46
Nov-08 $1,782,683 $692,857 $136,374 $87,700 $0.34
Feb-09 $1,923,274 $785,058 $231,282 $141,378 $0.55
May-09 $1,694,340 $666,818 $142,304 $87,172 $0.34
Aug-09 $1,914,909 $773,393 $222,031 $135,531 $0.52
Nov-09 $1,975,465 $812,412 $245,611 $151,288 $0.58
Feb-10 $2,244,079 $955,496 $370,741 $226,042 $0.86
May-10 $1,923,051 $775,036 $225,394 $137,553 $0.52
Aug-10 $2,136,730 $874,918 $296,902 $181,755 $0.70
Nov-10 $2,193,755 $896,508 $305,110 $188,574 $0.74
Feb-11 $2,504,967 $1,076,467 $461,052 $283,451 $1.12
May-11 $2,109,951 $857,572 $288,948 $180,578 $0.72
Aug-11 $2,314,064 $950,999 $371,636 $229,372 $0.93
Nov-11 $2,343,561 $958,693 $357,020 $228,544 $0.95
Feb-12 $2,732,314 $1,163,669 $550,765 $351,043 $1.48

Posted by on April 4th, 2012 at 4:22 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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