Bed Bath & Beyond Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an omnichannel retailer offering high quality and differentiated products, and services and solutions for the home and heart-related life events. These include certain life events that evoke strong emotional connections such as getting married, moving to a new home, having a baby, going to college and decorating a room.

The Company commenced operations in 1971 with the opening of two stores, which primarily sold bed linens and bath accessories. The first store carrying a full line of domestics merchandise and home furnishings was introduced in 1985 using the name "Bed Bath & Beyond" in order to reflect the expanded product offering. In 1992, the Company became a public company, with 34 stores, and began trading on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ‘BBBY.’ In 1999, the Company launched its first e-commerce website, www.bedbathandbeyond.com.

Since then, the Company has grown both organically and via acquisition. In 2002, the Company acquired Harmon Stores, Inc., a health and beauty care retailer, which operated 27 stores at the time located in three states. In 2003, the Company acquired Christmas Tree Shops, Inc., a retailer of giftware and household items, which operated 23 stores at the time located in six states. In 2007, the Company acquired Buy Buy Baby, Inc., a retailer of infant and toddler merchandise, which operated eight stores at the time located in four states. In 2007, the Company opened its first international Bed Bath & Beyond store in Ontario, Canada. In 2008, the Company became a partner in a joint venture which operated two stores at the time in the Mexico City market under the name “Home & More,” which were rebranded as Bed Bath & Beyond in 2012. In 2012, the Company acquired Linen Holdings, LLC (“Linen Holdings,” operating as Harbor Linen and T-Y Group), a provider of a variety of textile products, amenities and other goods to institutional customers in the hospitality, cruise line, healthcare and other industries, and Cost Plus, Inc., an omnichannel retailer selling a wide range of home decorating items, furniture, gifts, holiday and other seasonal items, and specialty food and beverages, which operated 258 stores at the time located in 30 states under the names of World Market, Cost Plus World Market or Cost Plus. In 2014, the Company opened its first international buybuy BABY store in Alberta, Canada. In 2015, the Company acquired Of a Kind, Inc., an e-commerce website that features specially commissioned, limited edition items from emerging fashion and home designers. In 2016, the Company acquired One Kings Lane, Inc., an online authority in home décor and design offering a unique collection of select home goods, designer and vintage items; PersonalizationMall.com, LLC, an industry-leading online retailer of personalized products; and certain assets of Chef Central, a retailer of kitchenware, cookware and homeware items catering to cooking and baking enthusiasts. In early 2017, the Company acquired Decorist, Inc., an online interior design platform that provides personalized home design services.

Through its multiple retail channels, the Company strives to do more for and with its customers wherever, whenever and however they wish to interact with the Company. The Company operates a robust ecommerce platform consisting of various websites and applications including bedbathandbeyond.com, bedbathandbeyond.ca, harmondiscount.com, christmastreeshops.com, buybuybaby.com, buybuybaby.ca, harborlinen.com, t-ygroup.com, worldmarket.com, ofakind.com, onekingslane.com, personalizationmall.com, chefcentral.com and decorist.com. The Company also operates an established retail store base which consists of 1,546 stores, as of February 25, 2017, and includes 1,023 Bed Bath & Beyond (“BBB”) stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Canada, 276 stores under the names of World Market, Cost Plus World Market or Cost Plus (collectively, “Cost Plus World Market”), 113 buybuy BABY (“Baby”) stores in 35 states and Canada, 80 stores under the names Christmas Tree Shops, Christmas Tree Shops andThat! or andThat! (collectively, “CTS”), and 54 stores under the names Harmon, Harmon Face Values or Face Values (collectively, “Harmon”). In addition, the Company is a partner in a joint venture which operates eight stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath & Beyond.

The Company accounts for its operations as two operating segments: North American Retail and Institutional Sales. The Institutional Sales operating segment, which is comprised of Linen Holdings, does not meet the quantitative thresholds under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and therefore is not a reportable segment. Net sales outside of the U.S. for the Company were not material for 2016, 2015 and 2014.

Strategy

The Company’s mission is to be trusted by its customers as the expert for the home and heart-related life events. These include certain life events that evoke strong emotional connections such as getting married, moving to a new home, having a baby, going to college and decorating a room, which the Company supports through its wedding and baby registries, new mover and student life programs, and its design consultation services. The Company’s strategy is based on building and delivering a strong foundation of differentiated products, and services and solutions, while driving operational excellence.

Through its growing analytics capabilities and personalized targeted marketing strategy, the Company strives to more efficiently and effectively understand the needs and wants of its customers as they travel through various life stages and express life interests. The Company offers an extensive selection of high quality domestics merchandise and home furnishings across all channels, concepts and countries in which it operates and strives to provide a noticeably better shopping experience through best-in-class services and solutions.

The integration of retail store and customer facing digital channels allows the Company to provide its customers with a seamless omnichannel shopping experience. In-store purchases are primarily fulfilled from that store’s inventory, or may also be shipped to a customer from one of the Company’s distribution facilities, from a vendor, or from another store. Online purchases, including web and mobile, can be shipped to a customer from the Company’s distribution facilities, directly from vendors, or from a store. The Company’s customers can also choose to pick up online orders in a store, as well as return online purchases to a store. Customers can also make online purchases through one of the Company’s customer contact centers and in-store through The Beyond Store, an internal web-based platform. These capabilities allow the Company to better serve customers across various channels.

By focusing on the Company’s mission and remaining grounded in its customer-centric culture, along with maintaining strong financial discipline, the Company believes it will strengthen its position as the customer’s first choice for the home and heart-related life events and continue to achieve long-term success.

Pricing

The Company believes in offering its customers high quality and differentiated products, and services and solutions at the right value. The Company regularly monitors price levels at its competitors in order to ensure that its prices are in accordance with its pricing philosophy. The Company believes that the application of its pricing philosophy is an important factor in establishing its reputation among customers.

Merchandising

The Company sells a wide assortment of domestics merchandise and home furnishings. Domestics merchandise includes categories such as bed linens and related items, bath items and kitchen textiles. Home furnishings include categories such as kitchen and tabletop items, fine tabletop, basic housewares, general home furnishings, consumables and certain juvenile products. The Company strives to present an exciting and engaging assortment of products to its customers, including name brands, proprietary and exclusive brands, as well as personalized products. The Company’s ability to do this over the years has been a competitive advantage. The Company pursues product differentiation in several ways, including its own product development, and exclusivity and limited distribution with its vendor partners. Some examples of the Company’s proprietary brands include Wamsutta, Real Simple and Olivia & Oliver. The Company, on an ongoing basis, tests new merchandise categories and adjusts the categories of merchandise carried in-store and online and may add new product categories or expand its merchandise assortment as appropriate. Additionally, the Company continues to integrate its merchandise assortments among its concepts.

The Company is evolving toward providing a more inspirational and personal shopping experience with an expanded offering, which includes a differentiated product mix, and enhanced services and solutions for customers, both in-store and across its customer facing digital channels.

As consumer shopping preferences continue to shift to customer facing digital channels, the Company believes its investments are driving a better omnichannel experience. The Company continues to improve the presentation and content as well as the functionality, general search and navigation features across its customer facing digital channels. The Company is also adapting its physical channels to further integrate its omnichannel capabilities to enhance the in-store customer experience by bringing products, and services and solutions, as well as the Company’s brand, to life. This includes services such as, reserve online and pickup in-store, purchase online and return in-store, and online appointment scheduling for one of the Company’s various registry services. In addition, the Company has introduced new technology in some stores which enables a customer to further engage with its products, get product ideas or get answers to product questions.

Marketing

The Company’s marketing efforts include a full-range of online and off-line vehicles, including email, mobile SMS, social, search, digital display and online affiliate programs, as well as traditional print media such as postcards, newspaper inserts, circulars, all of which often include coupon offers, and more recently, catalogs. The Company is leveraging its enhanced analytics capabilities to drive a more customer-centric strategy through personalized targeted marketing. As the Company learns more about its customers and how they prefer to interact, the Company can tailor its marketing communications and further its efforts to be trusted as the expert for the home and heart-related life events.

Customer Service

The Company’s customer-centric culture is rooted in creating a noticeably better shopping experience for each and every customer. The Company invests in its people and in delivering high-quality products, and services and solutions. As part of its objective to take care of its customers, the Company strives to make returns and exchanges hassle-free, whether in store or online. The Company’s best-in-class registry services for wedding, baby, college and other heart-related life events provide a unique opportunity to deepen customer relationships by demonstrating a high level of customer service during important life stages. The Company also invests in the technology necessary to enable a more seamless interaction between its associates and its customers wherever, whenever and however they wish to interact with the Company. The Company continues to focus its efforts and investments to strengthen its position as a leader in customer service.

Suppliers

The Company purchases substantially all of its merchandise in the United States, the majority from domestic sources and the balance from importers. The Company purchases a small amount of its merchandise directly from overseas sources. In fiscal 2016, the Company purchased its merchandise from approximately 10,800 suppliers with its largest supplier accounting for approximately 2% of its merchandise purchases with the 10 largest suppliers accounting for approximately 14% of such purchases. The Company has no long term contracts for the purchases of merchandise. The Company believes that most merchandise, other than brand name goods, is available from a variety of sources and that most brand name goods can be replaced with comparable merchandise.

Distribution

A substantial portion of the Company’s merchandise is shipped to stores through a combination of third party facilities, including cross dock locations, or Company operated distribution facilities which are located throughout the United States. The remaining merchandise for stores is shipped directly from vendors. Merchandise is shipped directly to customers from one of the Company’s operated distribution facilities, stores or from vendors. The majority of the Company’s shipments are made by contract carriers depending upon location.

Associates

As of February 25, 2017, the Company employed approximately 65,000 regular full-time and part-time associates. The Company believes that its employee relations are very good and that the labor turnover rate among its management employees is lower than that generally experienced within the industry.

Seasonality

The Company’s business is subject to seasonal influences. Generally, its sales volumes are higher in the calendar months of August, November and December, and lower in February.

Growth

In the 24-year period from the beginning of fiscal 1992 to the end of fiscal 2016, the chain has grown from 34 stores to 1,546 stores plus the Company’s interactive platforms, including websites and applications, and distribution facilities. Total store square footage, net of openings and closings, grew from approximately 0.9 million square feet at the beginning of fiscal 1992 to approximately 43.6 million square feet at the end of fiscal 2016.

In addition, as of February 25, 2017, the Company has distribution facilities totaling approximately 7.1 million square feet, supporting the growth of its customer facing digital channels as well as its stores and its institutional sales segment. During the third quarter of fiscal 2016, the Company’s newest distribution facility in Lewisville, Texas, began shipping direct to customers. In fiscal 2017, the Company plans to open a 525,000 square foot distribution facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new facility will replace a smaller distribution facility in that area, which will close in late 2017, and provide additional capacity to support the growth of the Company’s customer facing digital channels.

The Company plans to continue to invest in its infrastructure and its operations, including its digital, web and mobile capabilities, to reach its long-term objectives, including providing a better omnichannel experience for its customers. During fiscal 2017, the Company expects company-wide to open approximately 30 new stores, including new formats and new markets, and close approximately 15 to 20 stores. Additionally, in connection with leveraging its merchandise offerings and optimizing its operations, the Company continues to expand, across selected stores, the number of specialty departments such as health and beauty care, baby, specialty food, and beverage. Also, the Company is committed to the continued growth of its merchandise categories and channels and is growing the number of items it is able to have shipped directly to customers from a vendor. The continued growth of the Company is dependent, in part, upon the Company’s ability to execute these and other key initiatives successfully.

The Company has built its management structure with a view towards its growth and believes that, as a result, it has the necessary management depth.

Competition

The Company operates in a highly competitive business environment and competes with other national, regional, local and online retailers that may carry similar lines of merchandise, including department stores, specialty stores, off-price stores, mass merchandise stores and online only retailers. The Company believes the key to competing in its industry is to provide best-in-class customer service and customer experiences in stores and online, which includes compelling price and value, high-quality and differentiated products, services and solutions, convenience, technology, personalization, and appealing and experiential store environments.

Tradenames and Service Marks

The Company uses the service marks “Bed Bath & Beyond,” “buybuy BABY,” “Christmas Tree Shops,” “andThat!,” “Harmon,” “Face Values,” “Cost Plus,” “World Market,” “Cost Plus World Market,” “Of a Kind,” “One Kings Lane,” “PersonalizationMall.com,” “PMall,” “Chef Central,” and “Decorist,” in connection with its retail services. The Company also uses the service marks “Harbor Linen” and “TY Group” in connection with its institutional sales segment. The Company has registered trademarks and service marks or is seeking registrations for these and other trademarks and service marks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, the Company has registered or has applications pending with the trademark registries of several foreign countries, including having registered the “Bed Bath & Beyond” name and logo in Canada and Mexico and having registered the “buybuy BABY” name and logo in Canada. The Company also owns a number of product trademarks. The Company files patent applications and seeks copyright registrations where it deems such to be advantageous to the business. The Company believes that its name recognition and service marks are important elements of the Company’s merchandising strategy.

Available Information

The Company makes available as soon as reasonably practicable after filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), free of charge, through its website, www.bedbathandbeyond.com, the Company’s annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, electronically filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.