Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) stock fell over 5.5% in pre-market session on June 28th, 2018, after the company’s same-store sales for the first quarter, declined 0.6% while analysts were expecting a gain of 0.1%. The comparable sale fell due to a drop in the number of transactions in stores and is hurt by fewer redemptions of its once-popular coupons amid intense competition from online and off-price rivals. For the year 2018, BBBY projects earnings in the low-to-mid $2-a-share range with analysts are estimating earnings of $2.27 a share. The company has reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $43.6 million compared with $75.3 million, in the year-ago period. Like its rival Pier 1 Imports, Inc, Bed Bath & Beyond has struggled to adjust to a market where shoppers increasingly buy goods online over the past few years.
BBBY in the first quarter of FY 18 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 32 cents, missing the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 31 cents, according to data compiled from a survey conducted by FactSet . The first-quarter earnings included a 6 cents a share charge from severance costs and a 5 cents a share benefit from new accounting standards. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 0.4 percent to $2.75 billion in the first quarter of FY 18, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $2.74 billion.
Additionally, BBBY has declared a quarterly dividend of $.16 per share payable on October 16, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 14, 2018. During the first quarter fiscal 2018, the company has repurchased approximately $22 million of its common stock, representing approximately 1.2 million shares, under its existing $2.5 billion share repurchase program. As of June 2, 2018, the program had a remaining balance of approximately $1.5 billion. The Company has ended the fiscal 2018 first quarter with $847 million in cash and investment balances, which is an increase of approximately $281 million, compared with approximately $565 million at the end of the fiscal 2017 first quarter.
In addition, the company is on track with its three-year financial goals that comprise its vision for 2020 which include to achieve comparable sales growth beginning in FY18; to achieve moderating declines in operating profit and net earnings per diluted share in fiscal 2018 and fiscal 2019; and to achieve growth in net earnings per diluted share by fiscal 2020.