Bed Bath & Beyond stock down amid investor Ryan Cohen’s decision to sell entire stake

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss Bed Bath & Beyond stock performance after activist investor Ryan Cohen filed his intent to sell his stake in the retailer.

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Let's talk about another story that you are passionate about, and that's Bed, Bath & Beyond. The shares maybe coming back to reality this morning. They're down by 18% after activist investor Ryan Cohen filed his intent to sell his stake in the retailer.

Cohen and his firm RC Ventures currently own over 9 million shares of Bed, Bath & Beyond. Now, to be sure, he's filing to sell. That doesn't mean he is selling right now, right? But, you know, this has raised a lot of questions, his intent to sell, about what part, if any, he had in the stock, as it's been riding on the way up.

BRIAN SOZZI: Yeah, it's a tough one to figure out. So he was betting on-- we reported early in the week, he bought out of the money calls. And he could have made money between $60 and $80 a share. But now he has this intent to sell. So what is his true belief in Bed, Bath & Beyond?

Now, Bed, Bath, you highlighted a statement. They came out with a filing that they're exploring ways to raise capital. And we might get some update at the end of the month. And they need that capital. And they need it badly. But Ryan Cohen, he's another one that has gone high and right in addition to Kohl's. It's unclear. We have not heard from him at all.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, yeah, I don't know if he's tweeted anything else about his affinities for various substances, but yeah, Bed, Bath & Beyond came out in a statement and said they're committed to maximizing value for all stakeholders. They talked about reaching that constructive agreement with RC Ventures back in March. But we don't-- this story, I don't even know what--

BRIAN SOZZI: It's weird.

JULIE HYMAN: --to say about this story.

BRIAN SOZZI: The fact remains, this is a fundamentally challenged company that badly needs cash. And I tweeted out this morning, just looking out over the past 10 years of annual sales data for Bed, Bath & Beyond. I mean, their sales have gone from over $12 billion in 2015. Estimates this year, $7 billion. So this is a company that has lost massive, massive amounts of market share and is now in the stores, offering lots and lots of discounts on private label junk that nobody wants to buy.

JULIE HYMAN: Right, where they even have the merchandise in stock. As you pointed out, their back-to-school aisle is virtually empty. So, you know, it's-- the story continues to be confusing. Every time you tweet about it, every time news happens about it, you get all these people--

BRIAN SOZZI: Are you calling me a finfluencer? A finfluencer? I learned that term last night.

JULIE HYMAN: I'm not-- I wasn't calling you a finfluencer, but sure.

BRIAN SOZZI: All right. Thank you, Julie. Good to have you back. All right--