What happened
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) is having a week to forget. After it published quarterly earnings Wednesday that missed on both the top and bottom lines, the company was hit by a clutch of analyst price target cuts in the ensuing days. As a result, on Friday its share price fell by over 5%.
So what
Those cuts were entirely expected, as Bed Bath & Beyond had an awful first quarter that saw it whiff badly on earnings, and convincingly on revenue. As if that wasn't concerning enough, on the same day, the company announced that CEO Mark Tritton was stepping down from his position.
Since then, a score of analysts have understandably reduced their price targets on Bed Bath & Beyond stock. Influential investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley both now believe the shares are only worth $2 apiece. That's quite a comedown from Goldman's previous $14 estimation, and Morgan Stanley's $7.
Almost needless to say, the two companies are maintaining their equivalents of sell recommendations on the troubled retail company's stock. In making his price target cut, Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman noted that "Continuation of macro softness, market share losses, execution missteps & mgmt turnover unlikely to lead to improving fundamentals in the next 6-12 months."
Now what
All told, by my count eight prognosticators have enacted price cuts on Bed Bath & Beyond. Of the eight only one -- Wedbush's Seth Basham -- does not have a sell recommendation on the stock; instead, he currently rates it as a neutral.
