Investor attention on artificial intelligence has arrived at Best Buy (BBY).
Best Buy is expected to report third-quarter results Tuesday before the market opens, as demand for electronics continues to stabilize post-pandemic.
Wall Street expects revenue to come in at $9.63 billion, slightly lower than last year’s third quarter, while adjusted profit is expected to be flat for a year over the past year. other at $1.29 per share. Same-store sales are expected to fall nearly 1% for the quarter, compared to the 7.30% decline seen at the same time last year.
Get fintech insights, deals, and roles before everyone else
Join 1,000+ fintech professionals
Analysts expect sales of home appliances to continue to weigh on results, followed by sales of entertainment appliances and consumer electronics. Computers and mobile phones should see a gain.
“We expect IT (laptops and tablets) and services to partially offset weakness in appliances and home theater,” Bank of America analyst Robby Ohmes wrote in a note to his team. customers.
Preliminary credit and debit card data “suggests a comparable slowdown in sales growth in October…as value-conscious consumers may have chosen to delay purchases and wait for holiday sales “Ohmes added.
In the previous quarter’s results, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said customers are “looking for value and sales events” but are “willing to spend on high-priced products” for new technology.
Best Buy stock is up nearly 19% year to date, trailing the S&P 500 (^GSPC) 25% gain.
New products, particularly those related to AI, could drive growth.
“The company is expected to see a return to growth in the first half of 2025, after many consecutive quarters of negative results, as the new and replacement cycle begins, particularly for products purchased in 2019-2020,” a writes Joe Feldman of Telsey Advisory Group in a note to clients.
PC Copilot+which can access advanced AI models, launched earlier this year with around 40 products. In the previous quarter, Barry said the company was the exclusive retailer for about 40% of these new PCs.
He previously said that in the second half of 2024, Best Buy will see a much higher percentage of computers and tablets with AI capabilities, and more AI products available at different price points.
Here’s what Wall Street expects Best Buy to report for the third quarter, compared to a year ago, according to Bloomberg consensus data:
Adjusted earnings per share: $1.29, up from $1.29 last year
Net sales: $9.63 billion, up from $9.76 billion
Overall same-store sales growth: -0.92%, compared to -7.3%
Total U.S. same-store sales growth: -0.74%, compared to -7.3%
Get fintech insights, deals, and roles before everyone else
Join 1,000+ fintech professionals