AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Best Buy’s Profit Jumps 52%, Helped by Fewer Promotions - The Wall Street Journal

Best Buy Co.’s fiscal third-quarter net income soared 52%, helped by the popularity of videogames, mobile-navigation devices and flat-screen TVs and by cost containment.

The largest U.S. electronics chain also raised its fiscal-year profit expectations and will accelerate store openings this year as it continues to gain market share despite the challenging macro environment.

For the quarter ended Dec. 1, the Richfield, Minn., retailer reported net income of $228 million, or 53 cents a share, compared with $150 million, or 31 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 17% to $9.9 billion, thanks in part to the opening of 127 new stores and a higher average sales ticket tied mostly to big-ticket TVs. Same-store sales rose 6.7%, which included a 2.5-percentage-point gain from an extra week of post-Thanksgiving sales compared with a year earlier.

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