Thursday's Market Minute: Patience Can Be A Virtue

At least that’s what Mark Tritton wants us to think. In his candidly pessimistic notes about Bed Bath & Beyond’s quarterly report, the former Target CMO turned BBBY BBBY CEO called the beleaguered retailer’s third quarter “unsatisfactory,” and not indicative of the company’s future. Both the top and bottom line missed analyst estimates. Sales for the quarter were down nine percent compared to the previous year. And, comparable sales declined 8.3 percent when not adjusted for the one less week of holiday shopping. When adjusted to include Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in the same period, comp. sales only declined 3.6 percent.

Just in that 5-day period, the company reported a 7.1 percent increase in comp. sales compared to the previous year, which may be an indicator of the key changes Tritton has pledged to make. Even before the report came out after Wednesday’s close, shares plummeted four dollars from $16.50 down to $12.50, before trading was paused temporarily.

Since, they’ve come back slightly, and are hanging around $14.50 before market open. In the meantime, the company has withdrawn its FY19 financial guidance, and said it plans to rollout its “New Strategic Vision” in early 2020. Perhaps next year, we’ll start to see signs of those strategic changes.

Image by engin akyurt from Pixabay