Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q

Less discounting helps retail giant best expectations

By Kate Seamons, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 18, 2007 12:21 PM CST

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Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q — Customers browse DVDs at a Best Buy store in Mountain View, Calif., Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. Best Buy Co. on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007 said third-quarter profit jumped 52 percent, ahead of analyst expectations, boosted by an extra week of holiday shopping and sales of higher-priced items such as video game... (Associated Press)

A consumer hankering for big-ticket items—and a willingness to pay closer to full price for them—helped Best Buy's third-quarter profit rise 52%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Absent last year's discounting on flat-screen TVs, the country's largest electronics chain posted Q3 net income of $228 million, or 53 cents a share, versus 31 cents a share a year earlier and analysts' forecast of 41 cents.

An extra week of post-Thanksgiving shopping added to the surge; the company expects that same calendar shift to hinder fourth-quarter performance. Revenue rose 17% to $9.93 billion, aided by the opening of 127 new stores; same-store sales rose 6.7%. The company revised expected earnings from $3.10 to $3.20 a share. (More Best Buy stories.)

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