faceBed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) fiscal first-quarter sales climbed nearly 50%, as the retailer’s turnaround initiatives including launching new brands and remodeling stores helped to draw in customers for everything from blenders to bath mats.
The progress coming ahead of the key back-to-school shopping season was enough for the company to hike its full-year revenue outlook.
However, its first-quarter earnings were hurt and will continue to be weighed down by the costs that Bed Bath & Beyond faces in order to successfully turn its business around.
“We are re-establishing our authority in home, recapturing market share and unlocking our full potential,”Chief Executive Mark Tritton said in a statement.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s stock had been pulled into a so-called meme trading frenzy by retail investors on the social platform Reddit. But ahead of Wednesday’s results, Bank of America analyst Curtis Nagle said that shares had resumed trading at “pre-surge levels.”
Bed Bath & Beyond said its net loss narrowed to $51 million, or 48 cents per share, from a loss of $302 million, or $2.44 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges related to asset sales and other turnaround initiatives, the company earned 5 cents per share, which came in short of the 8 cents per share that analysts had expected.
Net sales climbed 49% to $1.95 billion from $1.3 billion a year earlier, beating expectations for $1.87 billion.
BBBY shares hiked $4.09, or 13.7%, to $34.00.