Sales and earnings slipped at Best Buy after the electronics buying binge that occurred during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adjusted for one-time events, diluted earnings per share were $1.57 versus $2.23 in the year period a year prior, according to the company.
Best Buy fell short of a MarketBeat-published analyst consensus estimate of $1.61 per adjusted diluted share but came out ahead of a revenue estimate of $10.43 billion
Comparable sales in the quarter decreased 8% with the domestic cops down 8.5% and domestic online comps down $14.9% year over year. The decline in domestic comps crossed almost all merchandising categories, with the main drivers on a weighted basis being computing and home theater, Best Buy pointed out. Still, it should be noted that in the quarter two years before, comps increased 37.2% with domestic comps up 37.9% and domestic online comps up 7.6%.
Best Buy posted revenue of $10.65 billion versus $11.64 billion in the year-past quarter. Operating income slipped to $462 million from $769 million in the period a year previous. Domestic revenue was $9.89 billion, down 8.7% for the quarter year over year.
In introducing the financial results, Corie Barry, Best Buy CEO, said, “Even with the expected slowdown this year, we continue to be in a fundamentally stronger position than we were before the pandemic from both a revenue and operating income rate perspective. We are confident in the strength of our business and excited about what lies ahead. We have a unique value creation opportunity and are investing now, as we have successfully invested ahead of change in our past, to ensure we’re ready to meet the needs of our customers and employees and retain our unique position in our industry. As we shared at our Investor Update in March, we expected our FY23 financial results to be softer than last year as we lap stimulus and other government support, the CE industry cycles the last two years of unusually strong demand, and we continue to invest in our future. In addition, we planned for increased promotional activity and higher supply chain expenses.”
