Bed Bath & Beyond files to sell more shares, representing more than 37% of market cap

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. BBBY, -3.11% dropped 4.4% in premarket trading Friday, after the home-goods retailer said it filed for the sale of an additional $150 million worth of shares, as part of an at-the-market (ATM) offering program initially launched at the end of August. The $150 million addition to the ATM represents about 37.5% of the company’s market capitalization as of Thursday’s close. The company plans to use the potential net proceeds from the addition to the ATM program for general corporate purposes, including for the rebalancing of the company’s inventory and paying down debt. The initial ATM program was for the sale of 12 million shares, leading to proceeds of $75 million. The “meme-stock” has gained 2.9% over the past three months through Thursday but has plunged 65.8% year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.75% has lost 6.5% the past three months and declined 20.1% this year.