Best Buy’s holiday sales disappoint, but retailer shows progress in growing profits

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Sign at the main entrance to a Best Buy store in Venice, Florida.

Erik McGregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Best Buy posted mixed results on Tuesday as the retailer’s holiday-quarter sales declined and missed Wall Street’s expectations, but its earnings topped estimates as it showed improved profitability.

For the current fiscal year, the consumer electronics retailer expects revenue to range between $41.2 billion and $42.1 billion, compared with $41.69 billion in the most recent fiscal year. It expects adjusted earnings per share to range from $6.30 to $6.60, after it reported adjusted earnings per share of $6.43 for the previous fiscal year.

Best Buy anticipates that comparable sales, a metric that tracks sales online and in stores open at least 14 months, will range from a decline of 1% to an increase of 1%.

In a news release, CEO Corie Barry said demand for consumer electronics remained lackluster during the gift-giving season, but the company’s internal data indicates that Best Buy’s market share in the industry “was at least flat.”

Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas said in his own statement that the company is “excited about the momentum in our business.” But he added that company leaders “expect to continue to navigate a mixed macro environment.”

Shares of Best Buy closed more than 7% higher on Tuesday.

Here’s how the retailer did for the fiscal fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $2.61 adjusted vs. $2.47 expected
• Revenue: $13.81 billion vs. $13.88 billion expected

In the three-month period ended Jan. 31, Best Buy’s net income jumped to $541 million, or $2.56 per share, from $117 million, or 54 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time expenses, including charges for its health business, Best Buy reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.61.

Revenue decreased from $13.95 billion in the year-ago quarter. Yet on an annual basis, revenue rose to $41.69 billion from $41.53 billion in the prior fiscal year. Best Buy’s annual revenue declined in the three previous fiscal years.

For about four years, Best Buy has pinned its slower sales on more price-sensitive U.S. consumers, a slower housing market and less tech innovation. All of those factors have caused some shoppers to delay tech purchases, particularly big-ticket items like new refrigerators.

On a call with reporters, Barry said the company is continuing to see consistent behaviors from both higher-income cohorts and lower-income groups. While she said Best Buy is seeing some softness in higher-cost item sales, the other end of the customer base is “resilient” and “deal-focused.”

More than half of Best Buy’s customer base falls in the income group of $100,000 or higher, she added.

“I think it’s important to know in the places where we have seen innovation, where there’s a bit more newness … people are willing to step into those higher price points across income cohorts,” Barry said on the call.

Higher tariffs have also added costs for Best Buy, since many consumer electronics are imported. Barry said the company’s “last resort” is raising prices, and it’s instead focused on diversifying its supply chain and negotiating costs with vendors.

Comparable sales dropped 0.8% in the fourth quarter as the company saw softer sales of appliances and home theaters. Those declines were partially offset by sales growth in computing and mobile phones, the company said.

Best Buy has leaned into more profitable businesses, including selling ads and offering more merchandise through its third-party marketplace, which launched in August. Barry said in the company’s news release that Best Buy’s advertising partners nearly doubled compared with the prior year and she said that the retailer has significantly increased the number of available products on the marketplace.