Bed Bath & Beyond Profit Plunges on Higher Overhead Costs

   By Maria Armental

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.'s (BBBY) profit plunged 52% in its latest quarter as the home-goods retailer reported roughly flat sales and higher overhead costs.

Despite the result, the company reported higher-than-expected sales at stores open for at least a year, a closely watched metric for retailers. Those sales declined about 0.3% from a year ago, compared with analysts' projection of a 2.4% decline, according to FactSet.

The New Jersey company had projected sales for the year to be relatively flat from the prior year, as weakness at physical stores offset a slight benefit from an additional week of operations. But online sales, as in the latest quarter, have been an area of "strong growth," the company said.

Shares, down 40% this year, fell 2.5% in after-hours trading.

Overall, Bed Bath & Beyond reported a third-quarter profit of $61.3 million, or 44 cents a share, down from $126.4 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier.

Sales, meanwhile, edged down slightly to $2.95 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had projected a profit of 45 cents a share, or 37 cents as adjusted, on $2.9 billion in sales.

Gross margin narrowed to 35.2% from 37% a year earlier.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 20, 2017 17:30 ET (22:30 GMT)

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