GameStop Shares Climb After Best Buy Reports Strong Q1 Gaming Sales

Shares of GameStop Corp. were up more than 6% in premarket trade on Thursday after Best Buy Co. Inc. reported a strong performance in the gaming category during its first-quarter. Best Buy beat profit expectations and reported a surprise increase in same-store sales. Best Buy shares were up 14% following its earnings report. "We delivered a strong performance in gaming due to robust customer demand and good product allocations for the new hardware that launched during the quarter," said Best Buy Chief Executive Hubert Joly during the company's quarterly conference call. During the company's three-month quarter ending April 29 Nintendo Co. Ltd released the Nintendo Switch, which had strong early sales. GameStop has struggled as of late as sales have declined. The stock is down more than 10% in the year to date and nearly 24% during the last 12 months. Best Buy shares are up more than 18% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up more than 7%.