Retail

Best Buy shares tumble 6% after CFO's disappointing outlook

Key Points
  • Best Buy stock fell 6 percent in premarket trading Thursday after the company did not provide an update to its full year forecast.
  • The technology retailer's shares initially turned positive after its first quarter earnings of $0.82 beat Wall Street's estimates by 8 cents.
The exterior of a Best Buy store in San Bruno, California.
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Best Buy stock fell 6 percent in premarket trading Thursday after the company did not provide an update to its full year forecast, despite reporting better than expected first quarter results.

"At this time we are not updating our full year fiscal 2019 guidance provided at the start of the year," Best Buy CFO Corie Barry said on a call with investors.

The technology retailer's shares initially turned positive after its first quarter earnings of $0.82 beat Wall Street's estimates by 8 cents. Best Buy's stock quickly reversed course, however, and fell steadily throughout the company's conference call.

"Genuinely, there is not more to read into" about Best Buy not raising its full year forecast, Barry said. "I know we did it last year. We just felt like there's so much of the year still in front of us."

Best Buy reported a comparable store sales increase of 7.1 percent, well above the consensus Thomson Reuters forecast of a 3 percent increase.

This was "another outstanding quarter" for the company, Moody's retail analyst Charlie O'Shea wrote in note. Best Buy's sales results are further evidence of "its substantial progress towards multi-channel retail," O'Shea added.

"Best Buy [is] in a strong position for the balance of this year," O'Shea said.

The company's investments in price-matching, faster delivery, improving the search function on its website and better customer service to draw shoppers to its stores and website have weighed on profitability. Despite the slowdown in e-commerce sales during this quarter, the company's turnaround has been strong.

"With focus and effort it is possible for any retailer to succeed against Amazon and other online players," GlobalData Retail managing director Neil Saunders wrote in a note.

Best Buy has about 15 percent of the U.S. consumer electronics market, compared to Amazon's 10 percent.

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– Reuters contributed to this report.