Best Buy sounded optimistic about its prospects heading toward 2025 after posting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and revenue despite lower comps.
Best Buy reported that the appliance business remained soft during the second quarter.
Net income was $291 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, versus $274 million, or $1.25 per diluted share, in the year-previous quarter. Earnings per diluted share in the year-past period included an adjustment that took the metric to $1.22.
Best Buy beat a Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate on earnings, which was for $1.16, and revenue, which was for $9.24 billion.
Comparable sales slid 2.3% as did domestic comps, Best Buy noted. Online comps declined 1.6%.
Revenue was $9.29 billion versus $9.58 billion in the year-prior quarter, the company stated. Domestic revenue was $8.62 billion versus $8.89 billion in the year-earlier period. Operating income was $383 million versus $348 million in the quarter a year before.
In a conference call, Corie Barry, Best Buy CEO, said second-quarter comp gains in tablets, computing and services were more than offset by declines in appliances, home theater and gaming. She said Best Buy expects appliances to remain more promotional than average through the end of the year. The company is bolstering its dedicated labor in the appliances department to aid customers coming into stores to shop in the category.
Barry, in announcing the second quarter financial results, said, “Today we are reporting better-than-expected sales and profitability results for the second quarter. We delivered strong results in our domestic tablet and computing categories, which together posted comparable sales growth of 6% versus last year. With our market position, expert sales associates and compelling merchandising, we capitalized on the demand driven by customers’ desire to replace or upgrade their products combined with new innovation. We are focused on sharpening our customer experiences and industry positioning while expanding our non-GAAP operating income rate in the current environment. We see a consumer who is seeking value and sales events and one who is also willing to spend on high-price point products when they need to or when there is new compelling technology. We are balancing our optimism in both the industry and our positioning with a pragmatic approach to likely uneven customer behavior going forward.”
Matt Bilunas, Best Buy CFO, added, “As we look to the back half of the year, we expect our industry to continue to show increasing stabilization. Last quarter, we said we believed we were likely trending towards the midpoint of our original comparable sales guidance and today, we are updating our annual comparable sales guidance range to a decline of 1.5% to 3%. At the same time, we are raising our non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance range as we largely flow through the better-than-expected profitability of the first half of the year.”
