Why Bed Bath & Beyond Shares Jumped on Friday
Shares of domestic merchandise retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) rose as much as 11.5% higher on Friday morning before settling down to a milder 9% gain by 12:30 p.m. EDT. The jump built on Thursday's earnings-based double-digit gain, creating a 37% increase in less than two days.
Bed Bath & Beyond saw second-quarter sales fall 1% year over year to $2.69 billion while adjusted earnings rose 47% to $0.50 per share. Your average Wall Street analyst would have settled for a net loss of $0.32 per share on revenue near $2.56 billion.
Some of Friday's continued rise rested on the earnings report as several analyst firms published their analyses in the early morning. Price targets moved uniformly upward as bulls continued to be bullish and bears stayed bearish. Both Loop Capital and J.P. Morgan doubled their target prices for the stock but held on to their neutral ratings. Wedbush maintained its outperform rating and raised the price target from $18 to $25 per share. Wedbush analyst Seth Basham argued that Bed Bath & Beyond executed well in the difficult back-to-school season and the improved marketing effort should drive solid sales in the next quarter as well.
Source Fool.com
