Best Buy's Stock Drops After Disappointing Outlook Offsets Profit Beat, Capital Return Moves

Best Buy Co. Inc.'s stock slumped 3.3% in premarket trade Thursday, after the consumer electronics retailer provided a downbeat profit outlook, offsetting better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results and new capital return measures. For the quarter ended Jan. 30, earnings declined to $479 million, or $1.40 a share, from $519 million, or $1.46 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to $1.53, above the FactSet consensus of $1.39. Revenue fell to $13.62 billion from $14.21 billion, but beat the FactSet consensus of $13.61 billion. Domestic same-store sales declined 1.8%, missing the FactSet consensus of a 1.1% decline. For its fiscal first quarter, adjusted EPS is expected to be 31 cents to 35 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 39 cents. Domestic same-store sales are seen falling 1% to 2% compared with the FactSet consensus of a 0.1% drop. Separately, Best Buy announced a 22% increase in its quarterly dividend to 28 cents a share, a new $1 billion stock repurchase program and a special dividend of 45 cents a share related to legal settlements and asset disposals. The stock has lost 1.5% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has slipped 7.6%.