Bed Bath & Beyond 4Q Net Jumps In-Line 14%, Outlook Trails Views

Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) revealed in-line fiscal fourth-quarter earnings growth of 14% on Wednesday amid a 24.5% leap in sales, but the retailer’s guidance for the current quarter came up shy.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond alternated between gains and losses in after-hours action.

The company said it earned $373.9 million, or $1.68 a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $351 million, or $1.48 a share, a year earlier. Analysts had called for EPS of $1.68.

Net sales soared 24.5% to $3.40 billion, also largely matching the Street’s view of $3.39 billion. Same-store sales rose by a more modest 2.5%.

Looking ahead, Bed Bath & Beyond forecasted fiscal first-quarter EPS of 88 cents to 94 cents, which compares poorly with consensus calls from analysts for 95 cents.

Earnings are expected to increase by a mid-single to a low double-digit percentage for the full year.

Bed Bath & Beyond said it repurchased about $305 million of its common stock last quarter, representing about 5.3 million shares. The company had $2.4 billion remaining on its share buyback program as of March 2.

After initially slumping more than 2%, shares of Union, N.J.-based Bed Bath & Beyond were recently up 1.73% to $66.63 in after-hours action. The bar had been set high as the company’s shares had been up 17% on the year following a 1.55% rally on Wednesday.