Bed Bath & Beyond Posts Profit Decline

By Ezequiel Minaya

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. said Wednesday that growing online sales couldn't offset sagging traffic at brick-and-mortar stores as the retailer posted a decline in profit for its latest quarter that registered below Wall Street expectations.

Comparable sales, a key metric for retailers, declined about 1.4%, compared with a year-earlier decline of 0.4% and analysts' projection for an increase of 0.5%, according to FactSet.

The company said comparable sales from digital channels grew over 20% while the metric declined for stores in the low single-digit percentage range. Expenses also crept up 7.2% to $881.5 million.

Shares of the company slipped 3.9% to $43.78 after hours.

In the wake of the latest results, the company sounded a note of pessimism, saying it expects annual, per-share earnings to be near the low end of the $4.50 to $5.00 range that has been typical in recent years.

Overall, Bed Bath & Beyond reported November-quarter profit of $126.4 million, or 85 cents a share, down from $177.8 million, or $1.09 a share, a year earlier.

Sales were flat at $2.95 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected 98 cents a share of earnings on $3.01 billion in sales.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 21, 2016 17:22 ET (22:22 GMT)

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