bed bath  beyond reported a much widerthanexpected second quarter loss before the stock market opened on thursday but also gave an improved inventory outlook and projected breakeven operating cash flow by the end of fiscal 2022 shares of the home goods retailer and meme stock darling seesawed into negative trading territory and were down 57 by early afternoon bed bath  beyond inc’s bbby shares are down 582 this year outpacing the sp 500 index’s spx decline of 236 bed bath  beyond stock skyrocketed earlier this year but was hit hard last month after activist investor and gamestop corp gme chairman ryan cohen disclosed he is selling a large stake in the company see now bed bath  beyond stock bounces back after another widerthanexpected loss but improved inventory outlook as part of a turnaround plan bed bath  beyond gave a strategic update last month that included workforce cuts and store closures at that time the company also provided a financial update for its second quarter “while bbby’s q2 update was welltelegraphed the results were indefensible” wrote wells fargo analyst zachary fadem in a note released on thursday pointing to the company’s sales which declined 28 yearoveryear and cash burn of 3205 million during the quarter “needless to say the company has a lot of wood to chop to improve underlying trends which are tracking ‘similar’ in earlyq3 flatten the fcf burn and fill the unfortunate void of its lost cfo” earlier this month the company’s cfo gustavo arnal leapt to his death from a new york skyscraper marking the latest chapter in a turbulent period for the troubled retailer and meme stock phenomenon see now bed bath  beyond stock sinks after ryan cohen discloses plan to unload stake cash remains a worry say analysts in june mark tritton was ousted as bed bath  beyond’s ceo after less than three years in the role triton’s attempts to breathe new life into the ailing company were hit by supply chain disruptions labor shortages inflation and the covid19 pandemic carol spieckerman president of retail advisory firm spieckerman retail told marketwatch at the time wells fargo’s fadem also pointed to bed bath  beyond’s steeperthanexpected gross margin declines and the prospect of additional headwinds in the second half of the year as older inventory is cleared and replaced by national brands this he wrote will likely exacerbate recent free cash flow pressures “on a positive note new initiatives welcome rewards new merchandise and simply saying ‘hello’ to customers are seemingly resonating” he wrote but added that restructuring efforts are clearly warranted see now bed bath  beyond’s turnaround plan leaves ‘questions that have really not been answered to any degree’ with share losses growing a likely 900 million of cash burn in fiscal year 2022 and an increasingly challenging home goods landscape wells fargo reiterated its bed bath  beyond underweight rating in a statement released on thursday bed bath  beyond interim ceo sue gove said that the retailer is heading in the right direction “although still very early we are seeing signs of continued progress as merchandising and inventory changes begin” she wrote “for example we have seen positive sales trends where instock positions and visual merchandising have improved” gove also pointed to the company’s welcome rewards program which has expanded its membership by more than 13 million since the end of august the program which was launched this summer now has 64 million members “enrolled members represent more frequent purchases and higher transaction values across all three banners” she wrote see now is the golden age of the meme stock rally over “our buybuy baby business continues to hold market share relative to other mass market retailers in today’s highly competitive environment” gove added “we are enhancing our capabilities while leveraging welcome rewards such as the relaunch of our baby registry business later this fiscal year increasing the effectiveness of marketing investments and realizing the strategic shift of our merchandise assortment which had minimal impact in this quarter all targeted to drive customers and topline growth” bed bath  beyond is also considering liability management transactions with particular focus on 2024 bonds the company said of 17 analysts surveyed by factset five have a hold rating for bed bath  beyond while 12 have an underweight or sell rating