Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) on Tuesday cut its full-year sales forecast as it missed Wall Street’s quarterly revenue expectations and a fresh batch of iPhones and AI-enabled laptops weren’t enough to drive higher sales.
The consumer electronics retailer said it now expects full-year revenue to range from $41.1 billion to $41.5 billion, compared to prior guidance of $41.3 billion to $41.9 billion. It expects full-year comparable sales to decline by between 2.5% and 3.5%, compared to its prior expectations of a 1.5% to 3% drop. Comparable sales includes sales online and at stores open for at least 14 months.
Shares of Best Buy were down $7.20, or 7.7% to $85.83 in early trading Tuesday.
In the company’s earnings release, CEO Corie Barry said it saw “softer-than-expected demand.” She pinned that on “a combination of the ongoing macro uncertainty, customers waiting for deals and sales events, and distraction during the run-up to the election, particularly in non-essential categories.”
But, she added, in the first weeks of the current quarter, consumer demand has picked up again as holiday sales gain momentum and election concerns ease.
Earnings per share came in at $1.26 adjusted vs. $1.29 expected, on revenue of $9.45 billion vs. $9.63 billion expected
In the three-month period that ended Nov. 2, Best Buy’s net income rose to $273 million, or $1.26 per share, from $263 million, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier.
