Best Buy on Thursday forecast second-quarter sales above Wall Street estimates after beating quarterly expectations on steady smartphone and gaming console demand as well as growth in its ads and marketplace channels.
Shares of the U.S. electronics retailer rose 8% in early trading. They are down about 10% over the past 12 months.
CEO Corie Barry is set to step down at the end of October and will be succeeded by Jason Bonfig, a company veteran who is expected to focus on expanding its higher-margin advertising and marketplace businesses.
Best Buy has doubled down on offerings such as Geek Squad support and paid memberships, with Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox, AI glasses and health wearables supporting demand.
May sales rose at a high-single-digit pace but are expected to slow to about 1% in the current quarter following last year’s strong Nintendo Switch 2 launch. The outlook is still stronger than analysts’ expectation of a 0.4% decline.
