What happened
Shares of home-goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) had a great run in June, as state and local governments in parts of the United States eased restrictions on retailers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bed Bath & Beyond's shares gained 45.8% last month, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That far outpaced the S&P 500 index's 1.8% gain.
So what
Quite a few brick-and-mortar retail-chain operators gained ground in June, on rising investor optimism around consumer-discretionary spending as stores reopened. Bed Bath & Beyond's stock price was already rising as June began, as the company had told investors in May that it expected to have about half of its stores reopened by mid-June.
Bed Bath & Beyond was struggling for a few years before the pandemic, but it has made several impressive moves since the arrival of CEO Mark Tritton from Target last year. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak reached the United States, Tritton was moving to shed non-core operations and boost its online presence -- moves that would serve it well, relatively speaking, after its stores were forced to close in mid-March.
Image source: Bed Bath & Beyond.
Even amid the pandemic, Tritton and his team were able to make moves that caught investors' attention. The company temporarily converted some of its stores to fulfillment centers as online demand surged, helping to keep inventory moving. And a new $850 million revolving line of credit, secured late in June, eased investors' concerns about liquidity.
Now what
All that said, Bed Bath & Beyond isn't out of the woods yet. With COVID-19 cases now spiking in areas of the U.S. that had reopened early, the possibility of another period of store closures is real. But investors won't have to wait long for an update: The company will report its first-quarter earnings results after the market closes today.
