Best Buy Co (NYSE:BBY) Reports Q4 In Line With Expectations
Electronics retailer Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) reported results in line with analysts' expectations in Q4 FY2024, with revenue flat year on year at $14.65 billion. On the other hand, the company's full-year revenue guidance of $41.95 billion at the midpoint came in slightly below analysts' estimates. It made a non-GAAP profit of $2.72 per share, improving from its profit of $2.61 per share in the same quarter last year.
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Best Buy Co (BBY) Q4 FY2024 Highlights:
Revenue: $14.65 billion vs analyst estimates of $14.56 billion (small beat)
EPS (non-GAAP): $2.72 vs analyst estimates of $2.50 (8.7% beat)
Management's revenue guidance for the upcoming financial year 2025 is $41.95 billion at the midpoint, missing analyst estimates by 0.9% and implying -3.5% growth (vs -6.7% in FY2024)
Free Cash Flow of $997 million, down 41.3% from the same quarter last year
Gross Margin (GAAP): 20.5%, up from 20% in the same quarter last year
Same-Store Sales were down 4.8% year on year (slight beat)
Market Capitalization: $17.16 billion
“I’m proud of the performance of our teams across the company as they showed resourcefulness, passion, and an unwavering focus on our customers this past year,” said Corie Barry, Best Buy CEO.
With humble beginnings as a stereo equipment seller, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) now sells a broad selection of consumer electronics, appliances, and home office products.
Electronics & Gaming Retailer
After a long day, some of us want to just watch TV, play video games, listen to music, or scroll through our phones; electronics and gaming retailers sell the technology that makes this possible, plus more. Shoppers can find everything from surround-sound speakers to gaming controllers to home appliances in their stores. Competitive prices and helpful store associates that can talk through topics like the latest technology in gaming and installation keep customers coming back. This is a category that has moved rapidly online over the last few decades, so these electronics and gaming retailers have needed to be nimble and aggressive with their e-commerce and omnichannel investments.
Sales Growth
Best Buy Co is a behemoth in the consumer retail sector and benefits from economies of scale, an important advantage giving the business an edge in distribution and more negotiating power with suppliers.
As you can see below, the company's revenue was flat over the last four years (we compare to 2019 to normalize for COVID-19 impacts) as its store count and sales at existing, established stores both shrunk.
This quarter, Best Buy Co reported a rather uninspiring 0.6% year-on-year revenue decline to $14.65 billion in revenue, in line with Wall Street's estimates. Looking ahead, Wall Street expects revenue to decline 2.8% over the next 12 months, a deceleration from this quarter.
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Same-Store Sales
Same-store sales growth is an important metric that tracks demand for a retailer's established brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce platform.
Best Buy Co's demand has been shrinking over the last eight quarters, and on average, its same-store sales have declined by 8.5% year on year. The company has been reducing its store count as fewer locations sometimes lead to higher same-store sales, but that hasn't been the case here.
In the latest quarter, Best Buy Co's same-store sales fell 4.8% year on year. This decrease was a further deceleration from the 9.3% year-on-year decline it posted 12 months ago. We hope the business can get back on track.
Key Takeaways from Best Buy Co's Q4 Results
It was good to see Best Buy Co beat analysts' EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its gross margin narrowly outperformed Wall Street's estimates. On the other hand, its full-year earnings forecast missed analysts' expectations and its full-year revenue guidance slightly missed Wall Street's estimates. Overall, the results could have been better. The stock is up 2.3% after reporting and currently trades at $81.5 per share.
So should you invest in Best Buy Co right now? When making that decision, it's important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it's free.
