Stocks to Watch: Red Hat, Bed Bath & Beyond

NEW YORK -- Rite Aid(RAD) reported first-quarter earnings Thursday that met analysts' expectations but it lowered its sales guidance for the year.

The drugstore chain reported a first-quarter loss of $30.7 million, or 3 cents a share, narrower than a year-earlier loss of $65.5 million, or 7 cents a share.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 3 cents a share.

Rite Aid lowered its fiscal 2013 sales guidance to between $25.3 billion and $25.7 billion and said it expects same-store sales to decline between 0.5% and 1%. The company previously anticipated sales would be between $25.4 billion and $25.8 billion with same-store sales between flat and an increase of 1.5%.

Shares of Rite Aid fell 1.71% in premarket trading Thursday to $1.15.

Red Hat (RHT) beat Wall Street's first-quarter profit expectations but it posted weak billings and provided second-quarter guidance slightly below estimates.

Billings, defined as revenue plus the change in deferred revenue, came in at $310 million. Wall Street was expecting $319 million, according to Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba, who has a buy rating on the stock.

Red Hat shares dropped 10.48% to $50.58 in premarket trading Thursday.

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Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) , the specialty retailer, gave a disappointing outlook on Wednesday for its fiscal second quarter.

The company said it expects earnings of 97 cents to $1.03 a share in the three months ending in August, below analysts' expectations of a profit of $1.08 a share.

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