Investing.com -- Shares in Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ:BBBY) tumbled nearly 5% in after-hours trading after the domestic merchandise retail store chain failed to meet analysts' expectations with its quarterly earnings and revenues.
During the company's first quarter of Fiscal Year 2016, Bed, Bath and Beyond reported net profit of $122.6 million or 0.80 per share, down sharply from earnings of $158.5 million and 0.93 per share in the same period last year. Over the past 12 months, shares outstanding in the company have fallen by approximately 10%. At the same time, company revenue fell mildly to $2.74 billion, as same-store sales dipped 0.5%. By comparison, revenues at Bed, Bath & Beyond stores open for at least a year, a key industry metric, rose 2.2% in the first quarter of 2015.
Analysts expected revenue of $2.78 billion on earnings per share of 0.86.
The poor sales quarter for Bed, Bath & Beyond underscores industry-wide struggles in the retail space, as brick-and-mortar fight valiantly to survive amid the growing shift to e-commerce. Consequently, the company's gross margin for the three-month period ending in late May fell to 37.4%, down from 38.1% a year earlier.
It also comes ahead a critical shareholder meeting on July 1 where proxy advisors from Institutional Shareholders Service and Guy Lewis & Company are urging stock holders to vote down the company's executive compensation plan and adopt widespread changes to its Board. In 2014, Bed, Bath and Beyond ranked seventh on Forbes' list of companies with the biggest CEO wage gaps. For the year, Bed, Bath & Beyond CEO Steve Temares received compensation of $19.1 million, while the company's median worker earned annual wages of $26,047.
Also on Wednesday, the company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly divided of $0.125 per share to be paid on October 18 to shareholders of record on September 16.
Shares in Bed, Bath and Beyond fell 2.01 or 4.65% to 41.17 in after-hours.