Third quarter net sales at Bed Bath & Beyond were flat as comparable store sales were down slightly.
The home specialty retailer reported quarterly net sales of $2.955 billion for the quarter ended November 26, up 0.1% over sales of $2.952 billion for the comparable quarter the previous year. Comparable sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2016 decreased by approximately 1.4%, compared with a decrease of approximately 0.4% in last year’s fiscal third quarter.
Sue Lattmann, CFO/treasurer, Bed Bath & Beyond, said during a conference call that the decline in comparable store sales was attributable to a decrease in the number of transactions in stores, which was partially offset by an increase in average transaction amounts. In addition, comparable sales from customer-facing digital channels grew in excess of 20%.
Net earnings were reported as $.85 per diluted share, or $126.4 million, compared with $1.09 per diluted share, or $177.8 million, for the third quarter of fiscal 2015. Wall Street analysts had forecasted net earnings of $.98 per diluted share.
For the remainder of the year, Lattmann said the retailer is “modeling” a full-year comp sales decline of approximately 50 basis points, with net sales up about 1%.
The company operates a total of 1,541 stores across its retail banners.
