BestBuy posts
FeedPosted Nov 4th 2009 8:40AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Blockbuster Inc 'A' (BBI), Best Buy (BBY), Media World, Technology
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) may be the world's largest electronics retailer, but it realizes that it faces a huge threat to a hefty chunk of its business. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is moving plenty of movies and other soon-to-be former DVD fare through iTunes, staking a claim on a business that once belonged to Best Buy. The big box store is getting ready to fight back (finally?).
Using technology it's licensing from Sonic Solutions (NASDAQ: SNIC), Best Buy is opening an online store for movies and television shows. Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn says this move will expand the company's presence in services and will bolster company loyalty. That's the press release version, of course. The reality is that Best Buy needed to do something to protect this portion of its revenue and probably should have made the move several years ago.
Continue reading Best Buy follows Amazon into the clouds
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 8:30AM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, eBay (EBAY), Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Best Buy (BBY)
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), simply put, had a quarter to die for, the kind that all shareholders have on their wish lists. The Q3 numbers, which were released on Thursday after the bell, speak for themselves. Net sales: up 28%. Operating income: up 62%. Per-share profit: up 67% to 45 cents. Free cash flow for the trailing twelve months: up 98%. Yep, Amazon's fundamentals seem to be heading in the right direction.
According to our earnings preview, Wall Street was on record as wanting to see 33 cents per share on the bottom line. Amazon's management did a fine job of supplying further evidence to the market that the company's online business model is not only here to stay, but that it should provide shareholders with a significant amount of value over time.
Continue reading Amazon's third quarter is just what shareholders wanted
Posted Sep 15th 2009 2:20PM by John Jagerson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Best Buy (BBY), Lowe's Cos (LOW)

Retail sales numbers jumped more last month than they have in three years. It would be understandable to assume that this was due to the "cash for clunkers" program, which ran through August, but even excluding auto-sales retail numbers were higher than expected.
Core retail sales (which excludes autos and gasoline) was up 1.1% in August, which was almost 300% higher than anticipated. The question at this point is whether that number would have been even better and ultimately more beneficial for the economy if the government had not siphoned so much spending into autos.
Continue reading Retail sales rally on more than just autos
Posted Aug 14th 2009 10:30AM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Wal-Mart (WMT), Target Corp. (TGT), Best Buy (BBY)
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), which reported earnings on Thursday, had something of a mixed second quarter. Net sales of roughly $100 billion came in below estimates, according analysts. Net income, however, fared better. The world's largest retailer made 88 cents per share from continuing operations, a figure that was two pennies ahead of analysts' projections.
The quarter produced neither significant growth nor precipitous decline for the most part. The top line decreased by only 1.4%, and the bottom line expanded by a mere 2 cents. Not terribly exciting. The metric that did decline a little more noticeably was free cash flow. Wal-Mart generated 18% less free cash during the last six months than it did in the comparable period a year ago, according to the company press release.
Continue reading Wal-Mart beats Wall Street in Q2, but same-store sales need help
Posted Aug 12th 2009 8:30AM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Best Buy (BBY)
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE:
BBY) shares were downgraded by Goldman Sachs from Buy to Neutral this week. Analyst Matthew Fassler indicated that Best Buy would continue to see increased pressure from online retailers, as well as mass discounters like
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:
WMT), which continues to upgrade its consumer electronics assortment and brand selection.
On the Wal-Mart front, the largest retailer in the world still is vastly inferior to Best Buy in terms of brand selection, assortment and even pricing -- so Fassler may be calling this a little too early. In the flat-panel television and PC categories, for example, Best Buy continually outshines Wal-Mart in just about every way from this writer's chair. Perhaps Wal-Mart will get better.
Target Corp. (NYSE:
TGT), on the other hand, is nowhere close to either Best Buy or Wal-Mart.
Continue reading Best Buy downgraded by Goldman on fears of Wal-Mart competition
Posted Jul 28th 2009 8:00AM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Best Buy (BBY), RadioShack Corp (RSH)
Electronics retailer RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) sold off on Monday. The market wasn't impressed by the earnings beat that management delivered. According to Reuters, the 39 cents per share that RadioShack booked for the second quarter went 10 cents beyond analyst expectations.
That sounds pretty good on the surface. And, to be honest, I bet shares of RadioShack would have rallied had conditions been different. The major indexes have seen a lot of bullish action as we all know, and I think a fair amount of stocks now might run the risk of selling off on a decent bottom-line report just because of worries in the system. When you think about it, this rally has to end some time. And if you take a look at RadioShack's stock performance since early March, you have to wonder how much more buying interest is left at this point.
Continue reading RadioShack tops estimates, but market not impressed
Posted Jul 16th 2009 3:00PM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Competitive strategy, Best Buy (BBY)
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE:
BBY) has become the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S. be using a combination of discount pricing across the board and a store count presence that has whipped much of the competition. As always, growth by store opening can only last so long. But Best Buy has a trick up its sleeve for even more growth. Mostly, its plans lay in urban growth instead of suburban growth.
To accomplish this, the retailer is partnering with legendary professional basketball player Magic Earvin Johnson. Although part of its urban growth strategy will continue to involve specialty product retailing, the addition of a legend to its marketing arsenal is nothing short of a great idea. Just recently, Best Buy brought Johnson to Bloomington, Minnesota to talk at a sponsored kids' basketball tournament.
Johnson's business involvement with many large national franchises like Starbucks and Burger King makes it easier for the retailer to center in on some of those locations Johnson's company owns as well.
Continue reading Best Buy and Magic Johnson: a recipe for urban, retail, big-box success?
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