Oppenheimer Outperform On Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY)

Oppenheimer & Co. has an Outperform rating on shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY after it reported stellar earnings yesterday. It also has a $54 price target on shares. In a note sent to clients, Oppenheimer writes, "We look very favorably upon the much better-than-expected 3Q (Nov.) results and updated FY10 (Feb. 2011) outlook that Bed Bath & Beyond reported last night. Sales trends have accelerated significantly at BBBY lately with two-year comps in 3Q of +14.3% vs. +6.8% in 2Q (Aug). BBBY impressively continues to control costs well even as sales shift higher. The company's announcement that it now plans to repurchase more than $2B in stock over the next couple of years should put to rest any market restlessness over the "inefficiency of the BBBY balance sheet." The several positives in BBBY's release should offset indications of weaker gross margins at the chain." Shares of BBBY closed at $50.82 in after-hours yesterday, a gain of 3.15%.