Best Buy sales and earnings tumbled in the third quarter, but they still came in ahead of a Wall Street estimate.
Adjusted diluted earnings per share topped a Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate of $1.03 while earnings came in ahead of a $10.31 billion revenue estimate.
Comparable store sales for the company declined 10.4% with domestic comps down 10.5% and international comps down 9.3%. Domestic online comps fell 11.6%.
Revenues were $10.59 billion versus $11.91 billion in the year-previous quarter, the company reported. Operating income was $365 million versus $670 million in the period a year before while adjusted operating income was $412 million versus $694 million.
Domestic revenue slipped 10.8% to $9.80 billion driven primarily by the 10.5% comp decline. In merchandising terms, Best Buy suffered comp declines across almost all categories, with the largest drivers on a weighted basis being computing and home theater.
Domestic online revenue as a percentage of total domestic revenue came in at 31% versus 31.3% in the year-past period.
“I am proud of our team’s execution and their relentless focus on providing amazing service to our customers during what is clearly a challenging environment for our industry,” said Corie Barry, Best Buy CEO, in announcing the financial results. “Throughout the quarter, we were committed to balancing our near-term response to current conditions and managing well what is in our control, while also advancing our strategic initiatives and investing in areas important for our long-term growth. As a result, we delivered Q3 results ahead of our expectations coming into the quarter.”
With holiday shopping started, Barry added, “now, more than ever, our customers are looking to bring joy back into their celebrations. We have strategically and effectively managed our inventory flow based on a shopping pattern that we believe looks more similar to historical holiday periods, with customer shopping activity concentrated on Black Friday week, Cyber Monday and the two weeks leading up to December 25. We are excited about the promotions and values we have planned, including special offers available to Totaltech and MyBestBuy members, and have tailored our offerings to delight our customers, whatever their budget.”
