Bath & Body Works Inc. stock BBWI fell 1.7% in premarket trade Thursday, after the retailer blew past earnings estimates for the fourth quarter, but offered guidance that was well below consensus. “The company’s forecast takes into consideration ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and assumes a continuation of fourth quarter 2022 sales trends for the first half of fiscal 2023,” the company said in a statement. Bed Bath & Body Works, which was spun out of L Brands in 2021, had net income of $434 million, or $1.89 a share, for the quarter, down from $594 million or $2.28 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $2.30, well ahead of the $1.62 FactSet consensus. Sales fell 5% to $2.889 billion, but were also ahead of the $2.807 billion FactSet consensus. Chief Executive Gina Boswell said customers responded well to the company’s holiday season assortment, boosted by a loyalty program that now counts more than 33 million members. The company now expects first-quarter sales to fall i the low to mid-single digits and for EPS of 17 cents to 27 cents. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of 44 cents. For the full year, it expects flat sales to a mid-single digit decline and EPS of $2.50 to $3.00. The company also announced plans to cut costs by $200 million with more than half of those included in its 2023 outlook. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of $3.63. Activist investor Third Point LLC on Wednesday laid out a plan to nominate candidates — including a shareholder representative — to the board of Bath & Body Works Inc., saying shareholders of the retail chain “urgently need representation” on grounds that executive pay was too high and financials were too weak. The stock has fallen 17% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has fallen 6%.
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