Fourth quarter and annual sales at Best Buy were down slightly but the company reported increases in net earnings and diluted earnings per share.
The home electronics retailer for the quarter ended January 28 reported revenue of $13.5 billion, down slightly from revenue of $13.6 billion in the comparable quarter the previous year. Total revenue for fiscal year 2017 was $39.4 billion, down from sales of $39.5 billion for fiscal year 2016.
Quarterly net earnings were $607 million compared to $479 million in the prior year. Annual net earnings were $1.2 billion, up from $897 million the previous year. Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.91, an increase of 37%.
“Our strong bottom-line performance in the fourth quarter was driven by a disciplined promotional strategy, continued optimization of merchandise margins and strong expense management,” said Hubert Joly, Best Buy chairman and CEO. “At the same time, our revenue was hindered by unprecedented product availability constraints across multiple vendors and categories, only some of which were anticipated.”
In its domestic segment for the fourth quarter, the company reported comparable sales growth in connected home, computing, headphones and home theater that was offset by declines in gaming, tablets, health and wearables and mobile phones.
Domestic online revenue was $2.3 billion for the fourth quarter, an increase of 17.5% on a comparable basis primarily due to increased traffic and higher conversion rates.
