Best Buy ups profit and sales outlook on strong 2Q results

Anne D'Innocenzio, The Associated Press</span>
Published Tuesday, August 29, 2017 8:08AM EDT

NEW YORK -- Best Buy raised its full-year profit and revenue outlook on Tuesday as the nation's largest consumer electronics chain delivered second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates.

Shares rose slightly in Tuesday premarket trading.

The results offer more encouraging signs that Best Buy Co. has been able to fight off online leader Amazon.com as well as increasing competition from Walmart.

Skeptics had been prepared to write Best Buy's obituary just a few years ago, predicting it to follow its now defunct former rival Circuit City as it battled the penchant of shoppers to use the store as a browsing showroom and then buy online. Under its CEO Hubert Joly, who took the helm in 2012, the company has been cutting costs and improving stores and training. Best Buy is also working to forge deeper partnerships with its suppliers, and offering more online services.

Best Buy turned in a 5.4 per cent increase in revenue at its U.S. stores opened at least a year for the fiscal second quarter. That beat Wall Street estimates for a 2.2 per cent increase. And online sales soared 31.2 per cent.

Best Buy said that comparable sales growth in computing, wearables, smart home, mobile phones and appliances was partially offset by declines in tablets.

For the period ended July 29, Best Buy earned $209 million, or 67 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 69 cents per share.

That was better than the 63 cents per share that analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.

Revenue for the Richfield, Minnesota-based company totalled $8.94 billion, topping the $8.66 billion that analysts polled by Zacks predicted.

For the current quarter ending in November, Best Buy expects earnings in a range of 75 cents to 80 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet anticipate earnings of 65 cents per share. Revenue is expected between $9.3 billion and $9.4 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks foresee revenue of $8.98 billion.

For the full year, the company now expects revenue growth of 4 per cent, up from its original estimate of 2.5 per cent. It also expects income growth of 4 per cent to 9 per cent, compared to its previous estimate for 3.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent growth.

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