Best Buy Earnings Surpass Expectations
Best Buy's quarterly earnings results released today came in ahead of Wall Street expectations and sent the retailer's stock up 9% in early trading. The discount chain announced a 1.4% rise in first quarter US revenue, to $7.9B, compared to the same period last year. Total revenue declined 1% to $8.56B, but that still outperformed Wall Street's expectation of an $8.46B result. The company attributed its solid, if unspectacular, quarter to growing demand for large flatscreen TVs and smartphones.
US comparable sales were up 6%. Best Buy's overall $129M profit paled to 1Q14's $461M result, but the company reaped rewards from a tax change during that period. The retail sector is closely monitoring a raft of earnings reports out this week with the hope they signal a improvement after a long plateau. Target delivered good financial news yesterday following Walmart's lackluster report earlier in the week.
