Insiders Are Booking Profits In This Battling Bedding and Bath Retailer

Senior executives at Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ:BBBY) have sold millions of dollars worth of stock recently.  However, these executives retain large stakes in the company and the company has performed well as of late, so it's not clear that these sales should be interpreted as a bearish signal.

Shares of the company have increased 11% year-to-date versus the PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ) increase of 5%.  Virtually all of the company's increase can be attributed to today's trading, in which the company topped analysts' Q4 estimates and issued Q1 2011 guidance in excess of analyst expectations.  The company reported fourth quarter earnings of $285.5 million or $1.12 per share, up from $226 million in the year-ago period.  Revenues increased roughly 12% to $2.5 billion.  Analysts had been expecting earnings of $0.97 per share.  Over the past 52-weeks shares of the company have increased 23% compared to the PowerShares QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ) 15% increase.

The company's profit margins appear typical of a retailer: net profit margin for 2010 was 7.66%, operating margin was 12.53%, and EBITD margin was 14.88%.  Its return on average assets was 12.74% and its return on average equity was 18.04%.  Those margins compare favorably with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), whose margins were 3.78%, 6.05%, and 7.87% respectively.