Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Plunge on Revenue Miss, Weak 2Q View

Shares of home-furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) plunged in after-hours trading, after the nationwide housewares vendor reported disappointing fiscal first-quarter revenue and gave a weaker-than-expected second-quarter outlook.

The retailer forecast fiscal second-quarter earnings between 97 cents and $1.03 a share, well below analyst forecasts for $1.08 a share. That forecast excludes the impact of its $550 million acquisition of home-decorating retailer Cost Plus, Inc, which was announced early last month, and the company said it expects its second-quarter forecast to “decrease by several cents” if the acquisition were completed during the second quarter, as is expected.

Earlier this month, the company also announced the $105 million purchase of Linen Holdings LLC, another retailer in the home-furnishings space.

Bed Bath & Beyond reiterated it expects earnings per share to increase in the high single to low double-digit percentage range for the full year; that forecast also excludes the impact of the Cost Plus transaction.

In the fiscal second quarter, net income rose 24% to $206.8 million, or 89 cents a share, up from year-ago profit of $180.6 million, or 72 cents a share.

Net sales rose 5% to $2.22 billion, compared with sales of $2.11 billion in the fiscal first quarter of 2011. Same-store sales rose 3% during the quarter.

The results were mixed, with revenue missing expectations. The Street was looking for earnings of 85 cents a share on revenue of $2.25 billion, according to a recent poll by Thomson Reuters.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond fell about 1.5% during the regular session on Wednesday.  The stock was down 10.5% in after-hours trading.