Best Buy 2Q results top Street as consumers purchase major appliances, mobile phones

Best Buy's fiscal second-quarter results handily beat analysts' estimates as shoppers picked up major appliances, large screen televisions and mobile phones.

The stock surged more than 11 percent in premarket trading Tuesday.

For the three months ended Aug. 1, Best Buy Co. earned $164 million, or 46 cents per share. A year earlier the Richfield, Minnesota-based company earned $146 million, or 42 cents per share.

Removing certain items, earnings were 49 cents per share.

The results easily topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.

The consumer electronics retailer's revenue climbed to $8.53 billion from $8.46 billion, also surpassing Wall Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.3 billion.

Strength in the domestic segment helped to offset weakness in the international unit, which was hampered by store closures in Canada, ongoing softness in the Canadian consumer electronics industry and a stronger dollar.

Online sales rose 17 percent.

Shares of Best Buy gained $3.43, or 11.7 percent, to $32.70 before the market open.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BBY at http://www.zacks.com/ap/BBY

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Keywords: Best Buy, Earnings Report