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Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

nytimes.com

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Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#191

Post by kevinventullo »

bink wrote: post #153
crooked-v wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing prices keep going up in the US because, fundamentally, there's not enough housing and hasn't been enough housing built for decades [1]. In most big cities, this is a self-inflicted problem caused by bad zoning and by planning and permitting processes that can take years and add huge amounts to home prices. (This is a big part of the reason there's so much "luxury" housing; adding a superficial high-end gloss…

Housing prices are rising dramatically even where populations are declining and land is abundant. It's not as simple as saying there's a housing shortage due to zoning.

Are you sure? Housing prices in my small Midwest hometown have risen by something like 1%/yr on average for the last 30 years.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#192

Post by FormerBandmate »

adam_arthur wrote: post #186
humanlion87 wrote: post #8

I find the whole situation fascinating. Bed Bath continued to sell hundreds of millions of shares while they were preparing for bankruptcy and retail investors (or meme stock investors) continued to buy them. I assume Bed Bath did all the paperwork that is necessary (like calling out risks, that the raised capital will go to creditors first, etc) for such a stock sale. But it is clear they were doing it out of bad-fa…

They didn't sell nearly enough shares. They could have probably saved their business, at least in the short term, by selling more. Their shares outstanding barely increased even as the price rocketed unjustifiably higher on meme energy. I'm consistently amazed by the poor management by CFOs of companies not selling shares when their P/E or even P/S multiples are 100x+. This is 100% free and exploitable money availabl…

It takes a lot of time to authorize share sales. When you do that it tanks the stock. AMC tried to at $80 and got voted down so had to go through several hoops which caused massive declines.

Elon Musk is one of the only people who's ever made it work, and his sales of Tesla stock are largely responsible for its current success

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#193

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

jraby3 wrote: post #178
dragontamer wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can be right for the wrong reasons. You can be wrong for the right reasons. You can be right for the right reasons, you can be wrong for the wrong reasons. The problem with being "right for the wrong reasons", is that your logic fails to apply to future situations. The "wrong reasons" in this case, is the obvious ego-tickling / ha ha the other people were wrong that's obviously intrinsic to the gambling / meme st…

A simpler way to say this is you can have a correct bet and a bad outcome and an incorrect bet and a good outcome. If I were to offer you $1 for heads and $3 for tails and you chose heads and lost, I’d win the bet but it’s still a bad bet.

Sounds like I was wrong for the wrong reasons too. (I lose the bet and it was a bad bet.)

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#194

Post by WillPostForFood »

bearjaws wrote: post #31

This is a huge loss IMO, buying kitchen supplies and bedding on Amazon is complete shit. Target isn't much better due to lack of variety and types of bedding. I've bought the same bed sheets for 5+ years, a few months ago I bought new ones since some bleach got spilt on one set, it comes in and I could tell immediately the quality was far worse. One wash later, its ripping & fraying. Thankfully I could return them. S…

If you want kitchen supplies, brick and mortar, and quality, Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma are both better then BB&B.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#195

Post by wobbly_bush »

darkhelmet wrote: post #182
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #133

Anecdotally, the last time I went to Bed Bath and Beyond, it was an absolute ghost town. No one was there, the prices were absolutely garbage, and the inventory was no better than anything you'd find literally anywhere else. I looked around and thought to myself, "Wow, I bet their corporate rent costs a fortune to just be here, and they're probably burning cash hand over fist." I'm not surprised in the slightest. Con…

It's not just BBB. This description could apply to a good number of chain stores these days. There are exceptions but this seems to be an increasing trend. There are ghost town stores everywhere you look. If I make a trip to (for example) Target, it feels nothing like Target of 20 years ago. The chances are good that they don't have what I hoped to find there. I'm getting used to being regularly disappointed and am l…

> If I make a trip to (for example) Target, it feels nothing like Target of 20 years ago.

I'm curious how did Target feel like 20 years ago?

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#196

Post by netrus »

treeman79 wrote: post #85
cjohnson318 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 19 Kids and Counting I think the birthrate in the US has been falling consistently for years and years. After people have one kid, they realize how expensive childcare is, and usually don't have more than one more.

If one spouse stays home, it’s not much more to have multiple from a day to day perspective. If you put in the effort to teach kids to manage age appropriate chores, the workload can be kept sane.

Having one spouse at home is a tremendously expensive form of child care, from an economists point of view. But the cost is mostly flat with the number of children, that's true for sure.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#197

Post by adam_arthur »

FormerBandmate wrote: post #192
adam_arthur wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't sell nearly enough shares. They could have probably saved their business, at least in the short term, by selling more. Their shares outstanding barely increased even as the price rocketed unjustifiably higher on meme energy. I'm consistently amazed by the poor management by CFOs of companies not selling shares when their P/E or even P/S multiples are 100x+. This is 100% free and exploitable money availabl…

It takes a lot of time to authorize share sales. When you do that it tanks the stock. AMC tried to at $80 and got voted down so had to go through several hoops which caused massive declines. Elon Musk is one of the only people who's ever made it work, and his sales of Tesla stock are largely responsible for its current success

You can authorize future share sales well ahead so that you're already prepared. Many companies have consistent authorization to sell into the market when they feel timing is right. It's a common way that BDCs and REITs grow. If the stock is trading well above NAV, selling shares is accretive to shareholders. Buybacks above NAV/fair value are dilutive (which clearly was the case with BBBY)

You can also sell in blocks to private acquirers if anybody bites. But the first approach is better if it's a meme situation (no rational buyer would take a block of shares close to market). Clearly there are many companies that could have and likely still can sell large blocks of shares close to market, NVDA being one example.

"A shelf offering allows a company to register its securities with the SEC but then delay putting them on the market for a period of up to three years. This provides some advantages, as the company can time the release of its securities, ideally aligning the issuance with favorable market conditions. Shelf offerings can also help companies save on the registration process, as they do not have to re-register each time that they release new shares."

from Investopedia

Somehow people confused this all along the way and simply equated "buybacks = good". Its about what value you get for the shares you're buying/selling. That's it. Buying back your shares at a 30x+ earnings multiple is going to be a terrible allocation of capital for most companies in the long run

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#198

Post by kristianbrigman »

rvba wrote: post #134
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything has been fundamentally detached from reality, from stocks to housing. Houses can sit empty without tenants for years but they’ll only go up. Companies can be unprofitable for literal decades but they’ll keep finding funding and buyers. Commercial properties can bleed tenant but the prices will only be up. In a world of shrinking growth , stalling productivity, and dying demographics, the market behaves lik…

Markets dont follow logic because central banks pump incredible amounts of dollars via money creation. Quantitative easing, 0% interest, massive inflation - are all just facets of the same problem - that central banks dont work for the common people. Market looks irrational, but it is rational - money is "free" - so zombie companies can exist. Inflation just ruins the low and middle class, but who cares - it is conve…

This is because money is trying to be two things at once - a medium of exchange, and a stable asset - and those are often in conflict.

If I just want to trade my bushel of corn for your chicken, money makes it easier - I exchange my corn for some money, and then I exchange that money for your chicken. I don’t care whether the money is ‘one fricasee’ or ‘ten million gorzebos’ as long as we both agree that’s the number attached to it. You can use something that is a real asset for this, but it actually doesn’t have to have any intrinsic value to be usable for this, as long as everyone agrees to use it.

However, there’s a time element - I can sell my corn, and then keep the money for a while, retaining the power to buy the chicken later. That turns it into a potential asset. During that time, the numbers attached to different items could go up or down - the time element makes arbitrage possible. Even for ‘useless’ assets.

Too much money held as assets can reduce its effectiveness as a medium of exchange - but improving the effectiveness as a medium of exchange can reduce its stability/value as an asset.

Also probably why there is a lot of contention over gold standards etc. - the gold standard improves its value as an asset, while potentially limiting its value as a medium of exchange - so it’s going to depend on which one you prioritize whether you will favor it or not.

Re: Bed Bath and Beyond files for bankruptcy

#199

Post by Eumenes »

bluedino wrote: post #169
Eumenes wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would an empty house not go up in value? If anything, if its unused, it'll likely require less upkeep/repairs.

Abandonded houses are often stripped of copper, etc and have squatters, vandals, problems from not being maintained or lived in...

Abandoned? You know people own two homes and live in them seasonally w/o them being vandalized? Source: have a summer cabin that's never been rack sacked by vandals.
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