Bed Bath & Beyond Q3 Profit Down - Update

(RTTNews) - Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., (BBBY) on Thursday reported a decline in third-quarter profit as expenses continued to weigh down the bottom line, despite modest sales growth. The home goods retailer's earnings were in line with Wall Street estimates, while sales missed expectations.

Union, New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond's third-quarter profit dropped to $177.8 million or $1.09 per share from $225.4 million or $1.23 per share last year.

On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.09 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales for the quarter grew 0.3 percent to $2.95 billion from $2.94 billion last year. Twenty analysts had a consensus sales estimate of $2.97 billion for the quarter.

Comparable sales in the third quarter decreased by about 0.4 percent compared with an increase of 1.7 percent in last year.

Bed Bath & Beyond has been battling with weak margins. The company's selling and administrative expenses increased to $822.5 million from $776.3 million last year, while sales costs rose to $1.84 billion from $1.81 billion last year.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, the company expects earnings of $1.72 to $1.86 per share and comparable sales to be between relatively flat and an increase of 2 percent.

For the full year, the company expects earnings of $4.91 to $5.05 per share and comparable sales of 0.6 to 1.1 percent.

Bed Bath & Beyond operates retail stores that sell a range of domestic merchandise and home furnishings under its eponymous brand as well as names like World Market, Christmas Tree Shops, andThat!, Harmon, among others. As of November 28, 2015, the company had a total of 1,526 stores.

BBBY closed Thursday's trading at $46.51, down $0.51 or 1.08%, on the Nasdaq. The stock further dropped $0.67 or 1.44% in the after-hours trade.