Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) said Tuesday fiscal second-quarter sales rose nearly 20% as consumers upgraded devices and equipment and permanently embraced habits formed over the past year — from hybrid work to streaming TV shows.
The consumer electronics retailer raised its outlook for the second half of the fiscal year. It now expects same-store sales to range from flat to down 3% in the second half of the fiscal year versus a year ago. It previously anticipated a high single-digit decline.
“Over the longer term, we are fundamentally in a stronger position than we expected just two years ago,” CEO Corie Barry said in a press release.
“There has been a dramatic and structural increase in the need for technology.”
Due to the pandemic, she said the retailer now serves “a much larger install base of consumer electronics with customers who have an elevated appetite to upgrade due to constant technology innovation and needs that reflect permanent life changes.”
She said the company’s sales also benefited from strong consumer spending, government stimulus and higher wages and levels of savings.
Best Buy’s second-quarter net income rose to $734 million, or $2.90 per share, up from $432 million, or $1.65 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, it earned $2.98 per share, higher than the $1.85 per share expected by analysts
Net sales rose to $11.85 billion from $9.91 billion a year earlier, outpacing estimates of $11.49 billion.
BBY hiked $7.06, or 6.3%, to $119.22.