Best Buy Co Inc. (BBY) posted weaker-than-expected first quarter earnings Tuesday, and lowered its full-year sales outlook, as the electronics retailer faces shifting consumer habits, supply chain costs and the fading impact of pandemic stimulus payments.
Best Buy said non-GAAP earnings for the three months ending in April came in at $1.57 per share, down 29.6% from the same period last year and just shy of the Street consensus forecast of $1.63 per share. Group revenues, Best Buy said, fell 8.5% from last year to $10.65 billion, but topped analysts' forecasts of a $10.44 billion tally. Same-store sales, Best Buy said, tumbled 8% from last year, beating the Refinitiv forecast of a 2.4% decline,
Looking into the 2023 financial year, which ends in February, Best Buy said it sees revenues in the region of $48.3 to $49.9 billion, down form its prior forecast of between $53.5 billion and $56.5 billion with non-GAAP earnings of between $8.4 and $9 per share. Same store sales are likely to fall between 3% and 6%, Best Buy said.
"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,” said CEO Corie Barry.
“Therefore, the drivers of our Q1 financial results were largely as expected,” she added. “Macro conditions worsened since we provided our guidance in early March which resulted in our sales being slightly lower than our expectations. Those trends have continued into Q2 and, as a result, we are revising our sales and profitability expectations for the year.”
Best Buy shares were marked 1.1% lower in early trading following the earnings release to change hands at $71.85 each., a move that would extend the stock's year-to-date decline to around 29.8%.
