Best Buy looks strong heading into holiday

NEW YORK -Best Buy on Thursday reported unexpectedly strong and better-than-expected profit and sales for the third quarter, gaining new momentum as it heads into the holiday shopping season. It was the first time since the third quarter of last year that Best Buy reported positive comparable store sales.

Net income nearly doubled, rising to $107 million from $54 million in the year-ago period. Total revenue rose 0.5% to $9.4 billion from $9.3 billion last year, helped by increased sales of televisions, computers and tablets as well as improving sales of appliances, video games and game systems.

Best Buy’s U.S. same-store sales in the United States were up 2.4%. Online sales rose 21.6% in the quarter, fueled by such omnichannel innovations as ship-from-store.

But the retailer also sounded some cautious notes, forecasting flat revenue and same-store sales growth for the fourth quarter. Chief executive Hubert Joly said on an earnings conference cited several factors that could impact Q4 performance, including internal factors like faster growing sales of lower margin products and higher growth in the low-margin online business.

Best Buy said it expects a fiercely promotional and competitive holiday season. And similar to other retailers, Best Buy is monitoring the ongoing labor dispute at West Coast ports which could result in a possible supply chain disruption.