Bed, Bath & Beyond’s Q3 Earnings

For their third-quarter (ending November 29), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) just reported earnings of 34 cents a share. That’s pretty ugly, but honestly, it’s not bad considering the crappy environment they’re 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
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-99	$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-00	$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-01	$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-02	$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-03	$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-04	$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-05	$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-06	$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-07	$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

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

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

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

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on January 7th, 2009 at 4:20 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.