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BED BATH& BEYOND ANNUAL REPORT 2005
1
To Our Fellow Shareholders: Continued from front cover
On the following pages, we discuss some of the highlights from our recently completed fiscal 2005. We also will provide
you with the information you need in connection with our upcoming Annual Meeting.
Fiscal 2005 was our 35th year of operations, and our 14th as a public company. As set forth below, the results of
fiscal 2005 were our best ever. Here are some of the highlights:
•Net earnings for the year ended February 25, 2006 were $1.92 per share ($572.8 million), exceeding fiscal 2004
per share net earnings of $1.65 ($505.0 million) by approximately 16.4%.
•Net sales for fiscal 2005 were $5.810 billion, an increase of approximately 12.9% from the prior year’s sales of
$5.148 billion.
•Comparable store sales for fiscal 2005 increased by approximately 4.6%, on top of an increase of approximately
4.5% in fiscal 2004.
•During fiscal 2005, we opened 83 new Bed Bath & Beyond stores. We also opened three Christmas Tree Shops
and four Harmon stores. We ended the year with 742 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, 29 Christmas Tree Shops and
38 Harmon stores.
•We returned $600 million in value to our shareholders through the share repurchase program completed
during our fiscal fourth quarter.
•At the close of fiscal 2005, cash and investments totaled approximately $1 billion, even after deducting cash
used in our expansion program, ongoing infrastructure enhancements and the $600 million dollar share
repurchase program we completed during the fiscal year.
This is the point in prior years where we have credited our successes to our associates and the culture they have helped
us to create and maintain. It remains as true this year as it ever has: our people demonstrate daily their exceptional dedication
and talents, and our culture permits and encourages them to flourish. Consistent with that culture, though, our focus is
not on the past. Our customer has already moved on to tomorrow.So we are already looking forward as well, and while
the chart to the left might look impressive, what it says to us quite clearly is this Company can do more, and it can do better.
That’s how we see it.
As we take this moment to prepare our annual letter, we again realize how fortunate we are to be teamed with such
wonderful people. We would like to thank each of our Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops and Harmon associates
for their outstanding efforts over the course of the prior year. In addition, we again thank each of our customers and business
partners for their roles in our continued growth and success. Just because we do not get a chance to say it often publicly
does not make it any less true. We are grateful, and we are looking forward to another great year.
WARREN EISENBERG LEONARD FEINSTEIN STEVEN H. TEMARES
Co-Chairman Co-Chairman Chief Executive Officer and
Member of the Board of Directors
May 24, 2006