I’m Back!

I’m back in the office after a very relaxing week in Maine. Here’s an interesting investing lesson: I didn’t pay attention at all to the stock market last week and the Buy List still outperformed the market. The S&P 500 dropped 0.3% last week while the 20 stocks on my Buy List gained an average of 2.2%. By doing nothing, I still beat most money managers.
The Buy List has been locked in place since the start of the year and we’re beating the S&P 500, 15.2% to 1.7% (not including dividends).
The best news last week came from Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY). The earnings report was outstanding. Not only did the company cream Wall Street’s estimate by nine cents a share (34 cents to 25 cents), but earnings were also higher than the same quarter one year ago. So in BBBY’s case, things are actually improving instead of saying that the rate of worsening is slowing.
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
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

Here’s a look at the trailing four-quarter earnings-per-share:
image825.png
Note the last bump up in the line. It may not look terribly impressive right now but consider how poorly the economy has done, especially in the housing sector. Bed Bath & Beyond is an excellent long-term stock.

Posted by on June 29th, 2009 at 8:31 am


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.