Before Tuesday’s opening bell, electronic retailer Best Buy (BBY ) reported a jump in its fourth quarter results. The company also announced a 21% hike to its quarterly dividend and a one-time special dividend.
BBY's Earnings in Brief
- The company reported net income of $519 million, or $1.46 per share, up 77% from $293 million, or 83 cents per share, last year.
- Excluding special items, earnings came in at $1.47 per share, above analysts’ estimate of $1.35 per share.
- Revenue increased to $14.21 billion from $14.03 billion. Analysts expected to see sales of $14.35 billion.
- Best Buy also announced that it will repurchase an additional $1 billion worth of shares. Currently, BBY has an existing $5 billion stock repurchase plan.
CEO Commentary
Best Buy’s CEO Hubert Joly commented:, “In the fourth quarter, our teams delivered positive comparable sales, improved profitability and continued progress in our Renew Blue transformation. This resulted in a 1.3% increase in revenue to $14.2 billion and a 23% increase in non-GAAP diluted EPS to $1.48 versus $1.20 last year, primarily driven by growth in the Domestic segment. A compelling merchandise assortment and strong multi-channel execution drove these better-than-expected results as we capitalized on the product cycles in large screen televisions and mobile phones. These two categories were the primary drivers of our year-over-year revenue growth, and more than offset weakness in the tablet category which was impacted by material industry declines.”
BBY's Dividend
Best Buy announced a 21% increase to its quarterly dividend from 19 cents to 23 cents per share, or 92 cents annually.
The company also announced a one-time special dividend of 51 cents.
Both the special dividend and the next regular payout will be paid on April 14 to shareholders of record on Match 24.
Stock Performance
Shares of BBY were up 94 cents, or 2.43% during premarket trading Tuesday. The stock is down 0.9% YTD.
The Bottom Line
Best Buy (BBY ) is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks, as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.
