Best Buy shares surged on Wednesday after the company reported earnings and sales for the holiday quarter that topped analysts’ expectations.
Best Buy also said it’s raising its quarterly dividend by 11 percent, to 50 cents per share, and announced a new $3 billion share repurchase program.
The retailer’s stock jumped more than 11 percent in premarket trading on the news.
Best Buy reported net income for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 2 of $735 million, or $2.69 per share, compared with $364 million, or $1.23 a share, a year ago. The fourth quarter of 2018 included one less week than in 2017, Best Buy said. Excluding one-time items, Best Buy earned $2.72 a share, topping expectations for $2.57, according to Refinitiv data.
Revenue fell to $14.80 billion during the quarter from $15.36 billion a year ago. But that was still ahead of expectations for $14.70 billion.
Sales at Best Buy stores open for at least 12 months were up 3 percent, topping expectations for growth of 2 percent. The company has now reported eight consecutive quarters of same-store sales gains. It said same-store sales were up 4.8 percent in fiscal 2019.
Looking to fiscal 2020, Best Buy is calling for earnings per share of between $5.45 and $5.65. Analysts were expecting earnings of $5.49 a share. Best Buy says same-store sales should be up as much as 2.5 percent this year, with annual revenue falling between $42.9 billion and $43.9 billion. Analysts were expecting sales of $43.39 billion.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
