Bed Bath & Beyond Profit Falls 15%

(RTTNews) - Home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its first quarter profit fell 15% from last year, as higher costs and expenses more than offset a 3.1% increase in sales.

The company's quarterly earnings per share also came in below analysts' expectations. At the same time, the company gave a downbeat earnings outlook for the current quarter.

Bed Bath & Beyond shares are currently losing 2.47% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $70.34, down 41 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $54.96 to $79.64.

The Union, New Jersey-based company operates a chain of retail stores under the names of Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops, Christmas Tree Shops andThat! or andThat!, Harmon or Harmon Face Values, buybuy BABY and World Market, Cost Plus World Market or Cost Plus, selling a wide assortment of domestics merchandise and home furnishings. As of May 30, the company had a total of 1,514 stores, including 1,021 Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

For the first quarter ended May 30, 2015, the company reported net income of $158.5 million or $0.93 per share,compared to $187.1 million or $0.93 per share for the year-ago quarter.

On average, 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.94 per share for the first quarter.

Net sales for the first quarter rose 3.1% to $2.74 billion from $2.66 billion in the same quarter last year. Same-store sales for the first quarter increased about 2.2%. Twenty-one analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.74 billion for the first quarter.

Looking forward to the second quarter, the company forecasts same-store increase of 2% to 3% and earnings of $1.18 to $1.23 per share. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.23 per share for the second quarter.

The company continues to forecast fiscal 2015 earnings per share to be between relatively flat and a mid-single digit percentage increase.