Bed Bath & Beyond Profit Meets Estimate; Sales Fall Shy

(RTTNews) - Home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) said Thursday after the markets closed that its third quarter profit fell 5% from last year, as higher costs and expenses more than offset a 2.7% increase in sales.

The company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, came in line with analysts' expectations, but its quarterly sales fell shy of analysts' forecast.

At the same time, the company maintained its earnings guidance for the current quarter, but raised its full year earnings outlook.

Bed Bath & Beyond shares are currently losing 3.96% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $79.45, up $1.24 or 1.59%. 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 November 29, 2014, the company had a total of 1,510 stores, including 1,019 Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

For the third quarter ended November 29, 2014, the company reported net income of $225.4 million or $1.23 per share,compared to $237.2 million or $1.12 per share for the year-ago quarter.

The latest quarter results include about $0.04 per share of net benefits for certain non-recurring items, including credit card fee litigation.

On average, 25 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.19 per share for the third quarter.

Net sales for the third quarter rose 2.7% to $2.94 billion from $2.87 billion in the same quarter last year. Same-store sales for the third quarter increased about 1.7%. Twenty analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $2.97 billion for the third quarter.

Looking forward, the company continues to forecast fourth quarter earnings of $1.78 to $1.83 per share.

The company said it now expects full fiscal year 2014 earnings to be $5.05 to $5.09 per share, compared to its prior outlook of $5.00 to $5.08 per share.

Analysts currently expect the company to earn $1.80 per share for the fourth quarter and $5.04 per share for the full fiscal year 2014.