Shares of Best Buy Inc. BBY, 2.89% rose 1.4% in premarket trading Tuesday, after the consumer electronics retailer reported fiscal second-quarter profit and revenue that fell less than forecast, helped by increasing online sales.
Net income for the quarter to July 30 dropped to $306 million, or $1.35 a share, from $734 million, or $2.90 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.54 beat the FactSet consensus of $1.27. Revenue fell 12.8% to $10.33 billion but was above the FactSet consensus of $12.27 billion, as same-store sales declined 12.1% to beat expectations of a 12.9% fall. Online sales penetration was 31% of total domestic sales, or almost double that of pre-pandemic Q2 of fiscal 2020. “As we entered the year, we expected the consumer electronics industry to be softer than last year following two years of elevated growth driven by unusually strong demand for technology products and services and fueled partly by stimulus dollars,” said Chief Executive Corie Barry. “The macro environment has been more challenged due to several factors and that has put additional pressure on our industry.” The company expects fiscal third-quarter same-store sales to be down “slightly more” than 12.1%, while the FactSet consensus is for a 12.6% decline. Best Buy’s stock has dropped 12.3% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.20% has slipped 3.1%.