Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Reports Results for Fiscal Year Ended February 26, 2011

UNION, N.J., April 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) today reported net earnings of $1.12 per diluted share ($283.5 million) in the fiscal fourth quarter ended February 26, 2011, an increase of approximately 30% versus net earnings of $.86 per diluted share ($226.0 million) in the same quarter a year ago.  Net sales for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2010 were approximately $2.505 billion, an increase of approximately 11.6% from net sales of approximately $2.244 billion reported in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2009.  Comparable store sales in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2010 increased by approximately 8.5%, compared with an increase of approximately 11.5% in last year's fiscal fourth quarter.

During the fiscal fourth quarter of 2010, the Company repurchased approximately $199 million of its common stock representing approximately 4.1 million shares.

For the fiscal year ended February 26, 2011, the Company reported net earnings of $3.07 per diluted share ($791.3 million), an increase of approximately 33% over net earnings of $2.30 per diluted share ($600.0 million) a year ago.  Net sales for fiscal 2010 were approximately $8.759 billion, an increase of approximately 11.9% from net sales of approximately $7.829 billion in the prior fiscal year.  Comparable store sales for fiscal 2010 increased by approximately 7.8%, compared with an increase of approximately 4.4% last year.

For fiscal 2011, the Company is modeling net earnings per diluted share to be approximately $.58 to $.61 for the fiscal first quarter and to increase by approximately 10% to 15% for the full year.  

As of February 26, 2011, the Company had a total of 1,139 stores, including 982 Bed Bath & Beyond stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada, 66 Christmas Tree Shops stores, 45 buybuy BABY stores and 46 stores under the names of Harmon or Harmon Face Values.  During the fiscal fourth quarter, the Company opened six Bed Bath & Beyond stores, five buybuy BABY stores and one Harmon Face Values store. Consolidated store space as of February 26, 2011 was approximately 35.1 million square feet. Since the beginning of the first quarter of fiscal 2011 on February 27, 2011, two additional Bed Bath & Beyond 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.