Bed Bath and Beyond stock slides 15% on Q4 results

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc stock (NASDAQ: BBBY) is down 15% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the home goods retailer reported a surprise loss for the fiscal fourth quarter.

Bed Bath & Beyond Q4 financial highlights

• Net loss printed at $159.1 million versus $9.1 million in net income last year.
• Per-share loss of $1.79 was worse than 8 cents of EPS in the same quarter last year.
• On an adjusted basis, the retailer lost 92 cents per share in the fiscal Q4.
• Sales came in at $2.051 billion versus the year-ago figure of $2.619 billion.
• FactSet consensus was for 3 cents of EPS and $2.075 billion in sales.

In the earnings press release, CEO Mark Tritton said:

Encouragingly, buybuy BABY delivered its sales goal for the quarter which led to $1.4 billion in sales for the full year, growing double digit, at an estimated mid-single digit adjusted EBITDA margin.

Comparable sales and future expectations

According to Bed Bath & Beyond, comparable sales tanked 12% in the recent quarter due to inventory challenges and supply chain disruptions. FactSet consensus was for an 8.5% decline. The chief executive added:

We estimate roughly $175 million impact to our Q4 sales (high-single digit deficit), due to a lack of in-stock availability in our Bed Bath banner. Positive product-related margin expansion associated with our Owned Brands, pricing, and promo optimisation were offset by escalating supply chain costs.

BBBY expects sequential comparable sales growth in the back half of fiscal 2022. Adjusted gross margin is also forecast to improve slightly this year. Last month, Chewy co-founder said Bed Bath & Beyond’s turnaround strategy wasn’t practical.