Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) on April 5 reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2016 ended February 25.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, the company reported net earnings of $268.7 million, or $1.84 per share, down from $303.5 million, or $1.91 per share, for the fiscal 2015 fourth quarter.
Net sales for the quarter were about $3.5 billion, a 3.4% increase compared to approximately $3.4 billion reported in the fiscal 2015 fourth quarter.
Comparable sales in the quarter increased by around 0.4%, versus an increase of about 1.7% in last year’s fiscal fourth quarter. Comparable sales from customer-facing digital channels increased more than 20% while comparable sales from stores declined in the low single-digit percentage range during the quarter.
For the fiscal full year, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) reported net earnings of $685.1 million, or $4.58 per share, compared to $841.5 million, or $5.10 per share, in the corresponding period a year ago.
Net sales for fiscal 2016 were around $12.2 billion, up 0.9% from sales of about $12.1 billion in fiscal 2015.
Comparable sales for the fiscal full year decreased by approximately 0.6% for fiscal 2016 compared with an increase of approximately 1.0% in fiscal 2015. Comparable sales from customer-facing digital channels grew in excess of 20%, while comparable sales from stores declined in the low single-digit percentage range for the fiscal full year.
“During fiscal 2016, we made significant investments to evolve our company and advance our mission to be trusted by our customers as the expert for the home and ‘heart-related’ life events by continuing to build and deliver a strong foundation of differentiated products, and services and solutions for customers, while driving operational excellence,” Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Steven Temares said in a statement.
In addition, Bed Bath & Beyond said that its board of directors declared an increase in the quarterly dividend to $.15 per share. The quarterly dividend is payable on July 18 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 16.
During the fiscal 2016 fourth quarter, the company repurchased about $171 million of its common stock, representing around 4.1 million shares, under its existing $2.5 billion share repurchase program. As of February 25, the program had a remaining balance of roughly $1.7 billion. It is expected to be completed sometime in fiscal 2020.
For fiscal 2017, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) is expecting a decline in net earnings per diluted share in the percentage range of low-single digits to 10%.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) closed down 3.03% on Wednesday. The stock is down around 7% year-to-date. During the last 12 months, BBBY has fallen more than 23%.
