Best Buy Profit Soars 52% in 3Q

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.)