Bed Bath & Beyond’s 2011 Projections

Courtesy of Seeking Alpha, here’s part of the transcript of Bed Bath & Beyond‘s ($BBBY) conference call:

Based on these and other planning assumptions, we are modeling net earnings per diluted share to be in the range of approximately $0.58 to $0.61 for the fiscal first quarter of 2011. For all of fiscal 2011, we are modeling net earnings per diluted share to increase by approximately 10% to 15%.

Before concluding this afternoon’s call, a few additional comments relative to our recently concluded fiscal fourth quarter. Our balance sheet remains strong and debt free. We ended fiscal 2010 with cash and cash equivalents and investment securities of approximately $1.9 billion. This includes approximately $112.9 million of investments related to auction rate securities. These securities have an estimated temporary valuation adjustment of approximately $3.2 million to reflect their current lack of liquidity. Since this valuation adjustment is deemed temporary, it did not affect the company’s earnings.

During the fourth quarter, we had approximately $8.4 million of redemptions of auction rate securities at par. Subsequent to the fourth quarter, we had approximately $5.8 million of auction rate securities redemptions at par, leaving a balance of approximately $107.1 million of these securities. As we have said in the past, and as we have experienced to date, we believe that given the high credit quality of these investments, we will ultimately recover, at par, all amounts invested in these securities.

Inventories continue to be tailored by store to meet the anticipated demands of our customers and are in good condition. As of February 26, 2011, inventories at cost were approximately $2 billion or $56.17 per square foot. Inventory per square foot was higher than in the prior year, primarily due to increased inventory levels required to support recent increases in comp store sales and timing of receipts.

Consolidated shareholders equity at February 26, 2011, was approximately $3.9 billion, which is net of all share repurchases, including the approximately $199 million representing approximately 4.1 million shares repurchased during fiscal fourth quarter of 2010.

Posted by on April 8th, 2011 at 11:35 am


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