Why Best Buy Is Hitting an All-Time High

Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) reported its fiscal first-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Thursday. The company said that it had $0.60 in earnings per share (EPS) and $8.53 billion in revenue, compared with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for $0.40 in EPS and revenue of $8.28 billion. In the same period of last year, the retailer posted EPS of $0.44 and $8.44 billion in revenue.

Total revenues rose by 1% in the quarter, with comparable sales rising 1.6%. Domestic revenue of $7.9 billion increased 1.1% from last year, driven by comparable sales growth of 1.4%, partially offset by the loss of revenue from 12 large format and 40 Best Buy Mobile store closures. International revenue of $616 million increased 0.3%, driven primarily by comparable sales growth of 4.0% due to growth in both Canada and Mexico.

In terms of guidance for the coming quarter, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $0.57 to $0.62 and revenues between $8.6 billion and $8.7 billion, with comparable sales rising 1.5% to 2.5%. The consensus estimates are $0.59 in EPS and $8.48 billion in revenue.

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On the books, Best Buy cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $3.60 billion at the end of the quarter, up from $3.07 billion in the same period from last year.

Hubert Joly, Best Buy board chair and chief executive, commented:

We are pleased today to report strong top and bottom line results for the first quarter of fiscal 2018. Our Q1 performance reflects the strength of our customer value proposition and continued momentum in the execution of our strategy. I want to thank all our associates across the company for their hard work in delivering these results.

Joly added:

We grew our Enterprise comparable sales by 1.6% during the quarter, driven by growth in both the Domestic and International segments. We also continued to drive significant growth in the online channel – with Domestic online comparable sales increasing 22.5%. On the profitability side, at the Enterprise level, we continued to optimize merchandise margins and exercise good expense management.

Shares of Best Buy were last seen up 17% at $59.53 on Thursday, with a consensus analyst price target of $48.70 and a 52-week trading range of $28.76 to $59.74.

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