Bed Bath & Beyond's sales plummeted 33% in the third quarter, with the retailer planning to slash costs with job cuts and by completing the closing of roughly 150 underperforming stores it has now mostly identified.

The Union, New Jersey-based home goods seller delivered its earnings for the fiscal quarter ending Nov. 26 on Tuesday, nearly a week after the company announced it may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection because of its growing financial woes. After delivering prepared remarks, which took less than 10 minutes, CEO Susan Gove didn't field any questions during a conference call with Wall Street analysts.

"As we shared last week, we continue to work with advisers as we consider all strategic alternatives to accomplish our near- and long-term goals," Gove said on the call. "Internally and externally, we have a team with proven experience helping companies successfully navigate difficult situations and become stronger. Multiple paths are being explored and we are determining our next steps thoroughly, and in a timely manner."

Bed Bath & Beyond — owner of not only its namesake chain but also Buy Buy Baby and Harmon — on Tuesday also released an updated and more complete list of the roughly 150 stores it plans to close by the end of fiscal 2022. The retailer in late August last year first said it would be downsizing its store fleet, but hadn't issued a comprehensive list of which brick-and-mortar sites would be going dark until now.

Bed Bath & Beyond's efforts to mount a turnaround so far have failed, following a decline that precipitated under the tenure of ex-CEO Mark Tritton, who was ousted last year. His plan of pivoting the chain's merchandise assortment to private-label goods, rather than national brands, didn't gain traction with shoppers. The retailer is moving back to national brands, Gove said, but the process takes time.

In the third quarter, Bed Bath Beyond said it initiated incremental cost reductions of roughly $80 million to $100 million "across corporate, including overhead expense and headcount." It didn't specify how many job cuts there would be.

The store-losing list is dominated by its Bed Bath & Beyond brand, but includes six Buy Buy Baby stores and two Harmon stores, which are both located in New Jersey, in Parsippany and Rockaway.

The closings for Bed Bath & Beyond, an anchor at many shopping centers, span Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

In the case of Illinois, nine Bed Bath & Beyond stores, and one Buy Buy Baby, are on the closure roster.

In terms of cities, the list includes closings in places such as: Chicago; Orlando, Florida; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Charlotte, North Carolina; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Burbank, California; Princeton, New Jersey; Sandusky, Ohio; and Ithaca, New York.

The company now has 949 stores, including 762 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, 137 Buy Buy Baby stores and 50 Harmon stores. It closed six Bed Bath & Beyond stores in the third quarter.

For the quarter, the company reported net sales of $1.259 billion, a 33% drop, predominantly driven by a comparable sales decline of 32%. For the banner chain, comparable sales were down 34%, while Buy Buy Baby's comparable sales dipped in the low-20% range

"Sales performance driven by lower in-stock position of approximately 70% and decrease in customer traffic," according to Bed Bath & Beyond.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, issued a note Tuesday on the retailer's earnings.

"Thanks to last week’s business update, today’s torrid numbers from Bed Bath & Beyond come as no surprise," Saunders said. "Nevertheless, they remain just as shocking as when they were first published. A third of revenue has vanished, plunging an already beleaguered company into the depths of chaos. Nowhere is this more evident than on the profit line where operating losses for the quarter came in at almost $451 million — taking full-year losses to well over a billion. In our view, Bed Bath & Beyond has completely lost control and is in a tailspin; and with the ground fast approaching, survival now looks unlikely."

Bed Bath & Beyond didn't respond to an email seeking comment on any of Saunders' remarks.

On the earnings call, Gove said Bed Bath & Beyond was bedeviled by the time it is taking to restock national brands as well as vendors who have grown wary and are making more demands of the retailer.

"We have taken aggressive action to change the elements of our business that are not aligned to what our customer wants," Gove said. "We are rebuilding our assortment to serve our customers' needs by leading with national brands and reducing our own brand merchandise at the Bed Bath banner."

She added that Bed Bath & Beyond faced vendor credit-line constraints that "led to lower receipts ad lower in-stock levels, in the 70% range — which hampered our sales further" in a competitive retail environment.

"While the issues facing it are numerous, the main problem now is that Bed Bath & Beyond is rapidly running out of cash," Saunders said. "Confidence from suppliers is also extremely limited. This combination means it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure stock, which is why inventory is so light at many stores. Out-of-stocks diminish sales and drive away customers. This pushes down profit which, in turn, weakens the cash position still further. This death spiral is very hard to escape from."

Bed Bath & Beyond last year didn't see much success in getting shoppers back in stores, according to data from the foot-traffic analytics firm Placer.ai. For example, in December store visits were down 26.5% compared to December 2021, and in November, visits were down 23.1% compared to the same month the prior year, according to Placer.ai.

Bed Bath & Beyond Beyond didn't respond to an email seeking comment on the Placer.ai data.

"There are a couple of potential paths forward for Bed Bath & Beyond, including the sale of Buy Buy Baby to raise cash or an infusion of money from a lender, albeit on likely unfavorable terms," Saunders said. "Neither of these is particularly desirable but they would buy the company some more time. However, in our view, given the extent of the problems, the most sensible solution would be restructuring under Chapter 11. This would mean giving up some control over the process but would allow some slates to be wiped clean. A buyer may also emerge for some of the assets, including the brand name and website — similar to what happened with Pier 1."