Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Reports Results for Fiscal Third Quarter

UNION, N.J., Dec. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) today reported net earnings of $.74 per diluted share ($188.6 million) in the fiscal third quarter ended November 27, 2010, an increase of approximately 28% versus net earnings of $.58 per diluted share ($151.3 million) in the same quarter a year ago.  Net sales for the fiscal third quarter of 2010 were approximately $2.194 billion, an increase of approximately 11.1% from net sales of approximately $1.975 billion reported in the fiscal third quarter of 2009.  Comparable store sales in the fiscal third quarter of 2010 increased by approximately 7.0%, compared with an increase of approximately 7.3% in last year's fiscal third quarter.

During the fiscal third quarter of 2010, the Company also repurchased approximately $211 million of its common stock representing approximately 5.0 million shares.

For the fiscal nine months ended November 27, 2010, the Company reported net earnings of $1.95 per diluted share ($507.9 million), an increase of approximately 35% over net earnings of $1.44 per diluted share ($374.0 million) in the corresponding period a year ago.  Net sales for the fiscal nine months of 2010 were approximately $6.254 billion, an increase of approximately 12.0% from net sales of approximately $5.585 billion in the corresponding period a year ago.  Comparable store sales for the fiscal nine months of 2010 increased by approximately 7.6%, compared with an increase of approximately 1.7% in last year's fiscal nine months.

The Company is now modeling net earnings per diluted share to be approximately $.91 to $.95 for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2010 and approximately $2.86 to $2.90 for all of fiscal 2010.  

The Company is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has authorized a new $2 billion share repurchase program.  The Company is currently planning that the new share repurchase program will commence in early fiscal 2011 after completion of the existing share repurchase program.  Since 2004 through the fiscal third quarter of 2010, the Company has returned approximately $2.6 billion to our shareholders through share repurchases.

"Our Board took this action based upon its continued confidence in our Company's long-term growth potential, financial outlook and cash flow generation," said Steven Temares, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors. "It is currently anticipated that this new $2 billion share repurchase program will be funded from current cash and from present and expected future cash flows. That said, our Company's Board of Directors continues to review our capital structure on an ongoing basis. In addition to providing value to our shareholders through share repurchase programs, our strong operations should allow us to continue to invest in our infrastructure and maintain our flexibility to take advantage of opportunities as they may arise."

As of November 27, 2010, the Company had a total of 1,127 stores, including 976 Bed Bath & Beyond stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada, 66 Christmas Tree Shops stores, 40 buybuy BABY stores and 45 stores under the names of Harmon or Harmon Face Values.  During the fiscal third quarter, the Company opened five Bed Bath & Beyond stores, five Christmas Tree Shops stores, and seven buybuy BABY stores. Consolidated store space as of November 27, 2010 was approximately 34.7 million square feet. Since the beginning of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 on November 28, 2010, two Bed Bath & Beyond stores and two buybuy BABY stores have been opened.  In addition, the Company is a partner in a joint venture which operates two stores in the Mexico City market under the name "Home & More."

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is a chain of retail stores, operating under the names of Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops, Harmon, Harmon Face Values and buybuy BABY.  In addition, the Company is a partner in a joint venture which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name "Home & More."  The Company sells a wide assortment of domestics merchandise and home furnishings.  Domestics merchandise includes categories such as bed linens and related items, bath items and kitchen textiles.  Home furnishings include categories such as kitchen and tabletop items, fine tabletop, basic housewares, general home furnishings, consumables and certain juvenile products.  Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. are traded on NASDAQ under the symbol "BBBY" and are included in the Standard and Poor's 500 and Global 1200 Indices and the NASDAQ-100 Index.  The Company is counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes 2000.    

This press release may contain forward-looking statements.  Many of these forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such as may, will, expect, anticipate, approximate, estimate, assume, continue, model, project, plan, and similar words and phrases.  The Company's actual results and future financial condition may differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements as a result of many factors that may be outside the Company's control. Such factors include, without limitation: general economic conditions including the housing market, a challenging overall macroeconomic environment and related changes in the retailing environment, consumer preferences and spending habits; demographics and other macroeconomic factors that may impact the level of spending for the types of merchandise sold by the Company; unusual weather patterns; competition from existing and potential competitors; competition from other channels of distribution; pricing pressures; the cost of labor, merchandise and other costs and expenses; the ability to find suitable locations at acceptable occupancy costs to support the Company's expansion program; the impact of failed auctions for auction rate securities held by the Company; changes to, or new, accounting standards including, without limitation, changes to lease accounting standards; and matters arising out of or related to the Company's stock option grants and procedures and related matters, including any tax implications relating to the Company's stock option grants.  The Company does not undertake any obligation to update its forward-looking statements.  

SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.