Shares of Best Buy Co. Inc. surged 6.9% toward a two-month high in premarket trading Tuesday, after the consumer electronics and appliances retailer reported fiscal third-quarter results that beat expectations and raised its full-year outlook, as well as an improved inventory situation. Net income fell to $277 million, or $1.22 a share, from $499 million, or $2.00 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.38 beat the FactSet consensus of $1.03. Revenue declined 11.1% to $10.59 billion but was above the FactSet consensus of $10.31 billion, as same-store sales fell 10.4% to beat expectations of a 12.9% drop. Cost of sales fell less than sales, down 9.4% as gross margin contracted to 22.0% from 23.5%. Merchandise inventories total $7.29 billion as of Oct. 29, down 14.7% from a year ago. For fiscal 2023, the company now expects same-store sales to fall about 10% versus prior guidance of down about 11%. The stock has lost 8.5% over the past three months through Monday while the S&P 500 has declined 4.5%.
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