Online Sales Help Increase Best Buy 3Q Profits
NEW YORK (AP) — Higher demand for mobile phones and online sales helped boost revenue and profit for Best Buy Co. in the third quarter.
Its shares jumped more than 6 percent in morning trading.
The electronics retailer saw profit rise 55 percent to $194 million, or 61 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 62 cents per share. Meanwhile, revenue at Richfield, Minnesota-based company rose 1.4 percent to $8.95 billion.
The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 47 cents per share, while nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.84 billion in revenue.
Domestic sales made up the bulk of the revenue and the increase, with same-store sales rising 1.8 percent domestically. Meanwhile, online revenue rose 24.1 percent to $881 million domestically.
The company has been facing continued pressure from online competition, such as Amazon.com Inc. Best Buy has spent the last several years cutting costs and beefing up its online presence and services to better compete in a sector increasingly dominated by online sellers.
Looking ahead, for the current quarter ending in January, Best Buy expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.62 to $1.67. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.58.
The company said it expects revenue in the range of $13.4 billion to $13.6 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter.
Best Buy shares rose $2.73, or 6.7 percent, to $43.18 in morning trading. Its shares have risen 40 percent over the past year.
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