Best Buy posts Dec. comps drop, narrows FY outlook

Best Buy reported a 4% increase in revenue for the fiscal December period, in line with its expectations. The revenue for the five-week period compared with $7.3 billion in revenue for the five-week period ended Jan. 5, 2008.

In commenting on fiscal December’s revenue results, Brad Anderson, vice chairman and CEO, stated, “While the environment continues to be as challenging as we expected, consumers are being drawn to brands that they trust, and they are responding to our customer-centric model. In this light, we believe the market share gains we’ve been making will be sustained.”

The company reported a comparable-store sales decline of 6.8%, which reflected a decrease in traffic that was partially offset by an increase in average ticket. The company stated that this year’s December calendar shift did not have a significant impact on domestic comparable-store sales.

Best Buy updated its guidance for fiscal 2009 annual earnings per diluted share to a range of $2.50 to $2.70, which excludes the $111 million investment impairment charge taken during the fiscal third quarter, expenses related to its voluntary separation program and any other restructuring charges to streamline operations in preparation for a challenging fiscal 2010 environment. This new earnings guidance represents a narrowing of the prior range of $2.30 to $2.90 per diluted share. The guidance assumes a comparable-store sales decline of 2% to 3% for fiscal 2009.