Best Buy: “In 42 years of retailing, we’ve never seen such difficult times for the consumer.”

[marmar]

Best Buy Cuts Annual Profit, Sales Forecasts on Slump (Update1)

By Brad Skillman

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics retailer, said full-year profit will be lower than it expected because of the recent turmoil in the financial markets and the U.S. economic slump

The shares dropped as much as 17 percent in early New York trading after the chain said profit for the year through February 2009 will be $2.30 to $2.90 a share. Revenue may range from $43.7 billion to $45.5 billion, Best Buy said today in a statement.

Sales at stores open at least 14 months may decline as much as 15 percent in the four months through February as consumers grappling with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression cut back on spending. Circuit City Stores Inc., Best Buy’s largest electronics competitor, filed for bankruptcy protection Nov. 10 after suppliers cut off credit and demanded cash for shipments.

“In 42 years of retailing, we’ve never seen such difficult times for the consumer,” Brian Dunn, president and chief operating officer, said in the statement. “People are making dramatic changes in how much they spend, and we’re not immune from those forces.”

Best Buy forecast in September adjusted full-year profit of $3.25 to $3.40 a share on revenue of $47 billion. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimated profit of $3.04 a share on sales of $46.4 billion.

Best Buy dropped $2.79, or 12 percent, to $21.09 at 8:29 a.m. in trading before the New York Stock Exchange opened.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVclUnqn5kWc&refer=home

[onehandle]

1. Best Buy needs to discount. They are basically full retail.

They are the showroom for my gadget searches. Then I buy online.

Once in a blue moon, I might pick up a cable for an "emergency." That's about it.

[hobbit709]

3. You got it

Everything Best Buy has I can find for 40-60% less elsewhere. And that's not even counting online.

[still_one]

2. That is because the republicans who best buy has been donating to has destroyed our economy /nt