Jacob, as the naz tumbles ;then I still dont understand how all the numbers so far add up ; look below at Best Buys and Radioshack report; BB is selling digital cameras and dvd players like hotcakes;
I still dont understand how bestbuy and radioshack can be atleast holding their own , if there is an impending recession; Radioshack reports APril 6th; and that will be very important to see which way we are really going!
1. from Yahoo
"LOOKING FOR A BRIGHT SPOT after another day of ugly sell-offs? It was Best Buy (NYSE:BBY - news), the Minneapolis-based consumer-electronics retailer that said sales of digital products like DVD players and cameras helped push fourth-quarter earnings up 16%.
The retailer bucked a market beaten down by a series of earnings warnings in the software sector by saying Tuesday that its fiscal 2002 profits should top forecasts. Shares surged nearly 9% on the news, one of the very few gainers along with a handful of drug stocks and energy-related firms.
Best Buy said net income for the quarter, ended March 3, rose to $189.7 million, or 89 cents a share, compared with $163.8 million, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had on average expected the company to earn 82 cents a share for the quarter.
Best Buy said sales for the quarter rose to $5.46 billion from $4.32 billion, while sales at stores open at least one year rose 1.8% from a year earlier.
``In view of the challenging economic environment, our ability to report record profits and exceed earnings estimates is particularly gratifying,'' said Richard Schulze, Best Buy chairman and chief executive. ``Our sales growth of more than 20%, the increased gross margin rate along with the excellent performance by our employees produced these outstanding results.''
Looking ahead, the company said continued sales of higher-margin digital products should help it attain fiscal 2002 earnings growth of about 16% to 18%, resulting in earnings per share of $2.15 to $2.20. Analysts had expected a full-year profit of $2.07.
Best Buy opened 62 new stores during the past year, and relocated or expanded 10. The company plans to open about 60 new stores in the coming fiscal year — including about 20 smaller-market stores — and to remodel or relocate about seven stores. Best Buy currently has more than 1,700 retail stores.
On a bad day on the Street, Best Buy's stock climbed $3.21 to $40.01 on heavy volume — four times the average daily volume. Its shares have a 52-week high of $88.87 and a low of $21.
Shares of Best Buy have outperformed the Standard & Poor's retail index of consumer electronics, which includes rivals Circuit City (NYSE:CC - news) and RadioShack (NYSE:RSH - news), by about 4% in the past 52 weeks.
Circuit City shares were higher on Best Buy's news as well, despite a gloomy forecast a day earlier. "
2.
Breaking News : Retail
RadioShack Same-Store Sales Rose 7% in February
By Erica M. Berardi
Editorial Assistant
3/6/01 9:53 AM ET
RadioShack (RSH:NYSE - news) said Tuesday that same-store sales increased 7% in February, down from a 10% rise in the year-ago period.
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The consumer electronics retailer posted February total sales of $358.1 million, up from $335.4 million in the same period one year ago, while its year-to-date total sales hit $728.4 million, up 10% from $664.3 million last year at this time.
RadioShack, which is based in Fort Worth, Texas, plans to report March sales results on April 6.
Shares of RadioShack were up 47 cents, or 1.2%, to $41.13 in recent New York Stock Exchange trading. " |
