Topic: 

Conference Call Transcripts

Dated: June 14th, 2017
Transcriber: Issack
Client: Seeking Alpha transcripts .

Operator: Welcome to the Bed Bath & Beyond's First Quarter 2017 Earnings Conference Call. My name
is Adrian and I'll be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode.
Later, we'll conduct a question and answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference
is being recorded. I'll turn the call over Janet Barth, Investor Relations. Janet Barth, you may begin.

Janet Barth: Thank you, Adrian, and good afternoon everyone. Joining me on our call today are Steven
Temares, Bed Bath & Beyond's Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors; Gene
Castagna, Chief Operating Officer; and Sue Lattmann, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements
including statements about or references to our internal models and our long-term objectives. All such
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
what we say during the call today. Please refer to our most recent periodic SEC filings for more detail on
these risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-
looking statements.

Our earnings press release dated June 22, 2017 can be found in the Investor Relations section of our
website at www.bedbathandbeyond.com. Here are some highlights from our financial results.

First quarter net earnings per diluted share were $0.53 including an unfavorable impact of
approximately $0.05 from the adoption of the new share based payment accounting standard. Net sales
for the quarter were approximately $2.7 billion, an increase of approximately 10 basis points compared
to the prior year period. Quarterly comparable sales decreased approximately 2%. In addition, our Board
of Directors today's declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share to be paid on October 17, 2017 to
shareholders of record as of September 15, 2017.

I'll now turn the call over to Sue, who will discuss our first quarter financial results in more detail. Steve
will then provide an update on the progress of some of our strategic initiatives and our ongoing efforts
to be our customers' first choice for the home and heartfelt life event by building and delivering a strong
foundation of differentiated products, services and solutions while driving operational excellence. After
our prepared remarks, we'll open up the call to questions. I'll now turn the call over to Su.

Susan Lattmann: Thanks Janet. I'll start with the review of our first quarter results. Our net sales were
approximately $2.7 billion, an increase of approximately 10 basis points from the first quarter of last
year, primarily due to an increase of 2.1% in non-comp sales including PMall, One Kings Lane and new
stores, largely offset by a 2% decrease in comp sales.

Our first quarter comp sales reflect a decrease in the number of transaction in stores partially offset by
an increase in the average transaction amount. As we often say, we believe in an integrated and
seamless customer experience, and although we cannot tell you through which channel a sale was
initiated, we can provide information based on where the sale was consummated. As a reminder of how
we reference certain omni transactions, sales consummated on a mobile device while the customer is
physically in store location are referred to as customer facing digital channel sale. Customer orders
taken in store by an associate through the Beyond Store our proprietary web based platform are
referred to as in-store sales. Customer orders reserved online and picked up in a store are also referred
to as in-store sales. While purchases made online that are subsequently returned to a store are referred
to as a reduction in-store sales.