Bed Bath & Beyond's Meltdown Has Only Just Begun

Bed Bath & Beyond's (NASDAQ: BBBY) stock recently plunged after the retailer released an unexpected update regarding its fourth-quarter sales. Its comparable-store sales fell 5.4% in December and January, due to lower store traffic, increased promotional activity and markdowns, and inventory management issues. It didn't offer any comps guidance last quarter, but analysts had expected a milder decline of 1.5%.

CEO Mark Tritton, who took the top job last November, admitted that the retailer was "experiencing short-term pain in our efforts to stabilize the business, including the pressures of store traffic trends coupled with our own executional challenges." Tritton noted that its digital sales grew "approximately 20%", but that growth clearly couldn't offset its dismal performance of its brick-and-mortar stores.

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Source Fool.com