When Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) announced that CEO Brad Anderson would retire this summer, the obvious choice to replace him was current COO and President Brian Dunn. After all, Dunn is a Best Buy vet and has had a hand in making Best Buy the top consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. With Anderson and Dunn running the show, Best Buy rose past every competitor and held the larger mass merchants at bay.The retailer has not had an easy time with the recent consumer spending slowdown, but its fundamentals are very solid and it retains a competitive advantage. Consumers continue spending money at Best Buy, and voting with dollars is a sign of success. Dunn will face one of the hardest times in Best Buy's history since consumers have tightened their collective purse strings. Still, he is the right pick and Best Buy's long-term future continues to be very bright, the current retail malaise not withstanding.
Best Buy is a solid investment pick for the next five years in retail as it operates its incredibly successful bricks-and-mortar store chain in the U.S., expands overseas in a large way and continues battling with online consumer electronics retailers as well as mass merchants in key areas like flat-screen televisions and video game systems. Circuit City, its chief competitor for the last decade, is going out of business and that leaves Best Buy to step in and take whatever market share Circuit City held (which was not much).
If you're into consumer discretionary stocks, BBY may be something you want to pick up soon. It's not near its 52-week low (that happened in November of last year), but shares are still under $30.
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