Best Buy reports modest sales recovery, but says tariffs are complicating its turnaround

Best Buy reports modest sales recovery, but says tariffs are complicating its turnaround


Logo of Best Buy displayed outside a Best Buy store in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on March 22, 2025.

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Best Buy surpassed Wall Street revenue and earnings expectations for its most recent quarter on Thursday, but stuck with its full-year forecast, citing tariff uncertainty.

The consumer electronics retailer said it expects revenue of $41.1 billion to $41.9 billion and adjusted earnings per share in a range of $6.15 to $6.30 for its full fiscal year 2026. In May, Best Buy had cut its full-year profit guidance from a prior range of $6.20 to $6.60.

For Best Buy, the middle of its expected full-year revenue range would be roughly flat to its revenue of $41.53 billion in the previous year. Best Buy said it expects full-year comparable sales, a metric that tracks online sales and sales at stores open at least 14 months, to range between a 1% decline and a 1% increase.

In a news release, CFO Matt Bilunas said the retailer is “increasingly confident about our plans for the back half of the year.” He said the company is “trending toward the higher end of our sales range.”

Yet he said, “given the uncertainty of potential tariff impacts in the back half, both on consumers overall as well as our business, we feel it is prudent to maintain the annual guidance we provided last quarter.”

Shares of Best Buy fell about 3% in premarket trading.

Here’s how the retailer did for the three-month period that ended August 2 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: $1.28 adjusted vs. $1.21 expected
  • Revenue: $9.44 billion vs. $9.24 billion expected

For Best Buy, a challenging trifecta of factors have complicated the retailer’s outlook. Customers have bought fewer kitchen appliances as they put off home purchases and projects because of higher interest rates. Some have hesitated to splurge on pricier items because of tariff-related uncertainty or held out on tech replacements as they wait for new or eye-catching items. The company’s annual sales have declined for the past three years.

To spur growth, Best Buy launched a third-party marketplace earlier this month to offer shoppers a wider selection of consumer electronics, accessories and more. On the marketplace, sellers who apply for the platform can list their own brands and items on Best Buy’s website and app.

The company already increased prices on some items because of tariff-related higher costs, CEO Corie Barry said on a mid-May call with reporters. She did not specify which items now cost more and described price increases as “the very last resort.”

Best Buy’s net income for the fiscal second quarter of 2026 fell to $186 million, or 87 cents per share, from $291 million, or $1.34 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusting for one-time items, including restructuring charges, Best Buy reported earnings per share of $1.28.

Revenue increased from $9.29 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Comparable sales rose 1.6% in the fiscal second quarter compared to the year-ago period. That marked the company’s highest growth in three years, Barry said in the company’s news release.

In the U.S., comparable sales increased 1.1%, as customers bought mobile phones, video gaming equipment and items from its computing category. However, those sales trends were partially offset by weaker sales of appliances, home theaters, tablets and drones, the company said.

Online sales in the U.S. rose 5.1% year over year and accounted for about a third of Best Buy’s total U.S. revenue in the quarter.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.



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