Merchandise retail chain Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY) is looking to spearhead 2021 with a strong earnings report to kick off the year. The company will be one of the first to step into the earning confessional in 2021, with its quarterly report set for Thursday, Jan. 7 before the open. Given the stock's penchant for volatile post-earnings moves, BBBY is worthy a second look as 2020 comes to a close.

BBBY was 50/50 as far as earnings reports went in 2020, outperforming expectations on two of its four earnings reports released in 2020. For the first quarter of 2020, Bed Bath & Beyond missed expectations by a margin of $0.40, reported a loss of -$0.38. Subsequently, in the second quarter, the retailer beat analysts' expectations by a margin of $0.18. Bed Bath & Beyond reported a huge decline in earnings for the third quarter of 2020, reporting a loss of -$1.96 and missing expectations by a significant margin of $0.74. In its most recent quarterly report, BBBY recovered back into profitability and beat earnings expectations by a relatively wide margin of $0.73 per share, which resulted in a huge post-earnings pop of 25% back in October.

The company suspended its dividend as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The last dividend Bed Bath & Beyond paid was for $0.17 in the first quarter of 2020.

This year we have seen a countless number of companies come crashing down, especially in the retail sector. However, a good portion of these companies had been sinking long before the pandemic hit this year, and Bed Bath and Beyond was one of them.

Although Bed Bath & Beyond has managed to produce nearly $10 billion in revenue this year, its annual revenue production has been on a steady decline since 2018. During this period, Bed Bath & Beyond has shed more than $2 billion in revenue. In addition, BBBY has also seen a massive decrease on the bottom line since 2017. The company went from producing a net profit of $685 million in 2017 to taking a net loss of $545 million over the last 12 months. That represents more than $1 billion in profits lost over about four years.

Overall, from a fundamental perspective, Bed Bath & Beyond stock has a lot to prove before it can be considered a sound investment. Investors had the opportunity to pick up Bed Bath & Beyond stock for a dirt-cheap 52-week low of $3.43 on April 3. The shares roared higher in the next six months, culminating in a three-year high of $26.16 by Oct. 20. And while BBBY has pulled back some since then, support has emerged at its 80-day moving average.