Bed Bath & Beyond Warning: Weather or Amazon?

The company expects to earn $1.57to $1.61 a share in the quarter ending on March 1. It had projected earnings at $1.60 to $1.67. The company did not say how the problems might affect full-year earnings. The company will report results on April 9.

Another weather blame game: weather resulted in 464 times a store was closed for a day and 1,923 times a store was closed for at least part of the day. The disruptions will result in a 2.0% to 2.5% decline in same-store sales for the quarter, a key metric for gauging a retailer’s success. The company also said the problems will trim earnings by $0.06 to $0.07 a share.

Investors on Monday were willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt. Shares were up 0.4% to $69.45 in early trading. Bed Bath & Beyond has been a winner for much of the past five years, jumping more than 320% between its bottom in March 2009 to an all-time high of $80.82 on January 3.

But what is unknown is if the weather problems meant more customers decided to shop at Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) instead. The question comes up because Bed Bath & Beyond reported disappointing results for its fiscal third quarter on January 9 and cut its guidance for the fourth quarter and the full year. The shares fell 21% over the next three weeks.

Bed Bath & Beyond has experienced a high level of “showrooming,” when customers check the merchandise in a traditional store and then buy the same goods for less on Amazon.com or elsewhere online. In a study released in 2013, showroomers were 27% more likely to visit a Bed Bath & Beyond store than other shoppers.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s statement on Friday did not deal with the question, and neither did news reports. Releasing bad news after the market closes on a Friday tends to limit questions.

One last point. Bed Bath & Beyond has seen sales growth start to flatten in recent years. That suggests the company is reaching a saturation point with its stores. It has been able to mask the issue by constantly buying up stock to make earnings per share look stronger.

If the market is saturated — either because of too many stores or increasing competition from the likes of Amazon.com — then the company needs to start talking about where it will seek new avenues of growth.