Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) on Thursday reported holiday-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street’s expectations, as waning demand for consumer electronics proved better than feared.
Still, the retailer warned of declining sales in the coming year.
For the coming fiscal year, the consumer electronics retailer said it expects revenue between $43.8 billion and $45.2 billion, a decline from its most recent fiscal year, and a same-store sales decline of between 3% and 6%.
Earnings per share registered at $2.61 as opposed to the expected $2.11, on revenue of $14.74 billion vs. $14.72 billion expected.
Best Buy was a big beneficiary of sales trends during the Covid pandemic, as consumers bought computer monitors to work remotely, home theaters to pass the time and kitchen appliances as they cooked more. Its quarterly sales were down about 3% from the same period before the pandemic when it reported $15.2 billion in revenue.
Same-store sales decreased by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of 9.2%. For the full year, same-store sales were down 9.9%, in line with guidance the retailer issued in November that same-store sales would decline about 10%.
Best Buy had joined other retailers in cutting its outlook this summer. It also cut an undisclosed number of jobs across the country this summer.
In the fiscal fourth quarter, Best Buy’s net income fell by 21% to $495 million, or $2.23 per share, from $626 million, or $2.62 per share, a year earlier.
BBY shares gathered 93 cents, or 1.1%, to $83.47.
