Best Buywasn’t spared during the retail-centric market selloff last week, which lowered expectations for the electronics seller’s coming earnings, due out before the bell Tuesday. If the company can buck the trend and offer a more upbeat outlook, that could bolster the stock.
Consensus calls for Best Buy (ticker: BBY) to earn $1.57 a share in its fiscal first quarter, on revenue of $10.41 billion. That would mark a decline from the year-ago period, when Best Buy earned $2.23 a share on revenue of $11.64 billion.
Not surprisingly, earnings per share revisions have been overwhelmingly negative, with analysts’ estimates for the quarter coming down 2% in the past week alone, following disappointing results from retail bellwethers Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT).
Best Buy was a big winner during the pandemic, given that more people bought personal electronics to work and play at home, while also spending on appliances amid a strong housing market.
However concerns about the sustainably of those trends have grown recently, especially after Best Buy’s previous quarter, delivered in March, showed mixed results during the key Christmas season. At that time, the company was able to offer reassuring guidance, which helped the shares.
Yet other big retailers have walked back or lower their expectations for the full year this earnings season, leaving investors worried that Best Buy may have to do the same. If the company can avoid doing so, that would likely help the stock, but it may find it difficult to do so as consumers shift their spending and grapple with record inflation.
Analysts are split on Best Buy: Half are sidelined, according to data from FactSet, while 43% still rate it at Buy or the equivalent, and there are two bearish calls on the shares. That said, after the recent slide, the average analyst price target of $115.33 is well above the $74 level where the shares opened Monday.
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