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[Zephyr]

Best Buy to Buy Back Shares, Raise Dividends After Earnings Surge $BBY 


By Chelsey Dulaney Best Buy Co. unveiled plans Tuesday to buy back shares for the first time since 2012, as the electronics retailer also posted a better-than-expected surge in profit in its holiday quarter. Shares gained about 4% in premarket trading. Still, revenue missed Wall Street expectations on continued weakness in the tablet category. Best Buy said Tuesday that it has authorized $1 billion in buybacks to be carried out over three years. The company also announced a 21% boost to its quarterly dividend and a special dividend of 51 cents a share. In January, the company warned that weak demand for consumer electronics and declining prices will weigh on sales for the first half of the year, rekindling investor worries about the chain's long-term profitability. The electronics chain said domestic sales would be flat to negative for the first half of the year. At the same time, Best Buy also said its profitability will suffer during the period as it plans to spend heavily on store improvements. The expected slowdown this year overshadowed a strong holiday season showing for the retailer, largely driven by popular home-theater systems and mobile phones. For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, domestic sales excluding newly opened or closed locations grew 2.8%. Domestic online sales surged 9.7% in the most recent period. Best Buy has invested in its Web operations amid concerns that its stores were becoming little more than a testing ground for products that are ultimately bought online. International same-store sales, meanwhile, fell 4%. Overall, the company posted earnings of $519 million, or $1.46 a share, up from $293 million, or 83 cents a share, in the prior-year period. Excluding a gain on investment, per-share earnings were $1.48. Revenue inched up 1.3% to $14.2 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected $1.35 a share in earnings and $14.35 billion in revenue. Selling, general and administrative expenses edged down to $2.22 billion from $2.26 billion a year earlier. Best Buy has eked out stronger profits recently thanks largely to cost cuts. Gross profit margin widened to 21.3% from 20.2% a year earlier. Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail] Access Investor Kit for Best Buy Co., Inc. Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479?=US0865161014 Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires (END) Dow Jones Newswires March 03, 2015 07:38 ET (12:38 GMT) Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Story ID: 20150303DN004207 Keywords: DIVIDEND NEWS, COMPANY NEWS, NEWSWIRES CONTENT FILTERED FOR FACTIVA, ACQUISITIONS, MERGERS, TAKEOVERS, DOW JONES CONTENT SET DN, DOW JONES PORTFOLIO NEWS, DOW JONES INVESTMENT BANKER, DOW JONES NORTH AMERICA EQUITIES NEWS, NYSE COMPOSITE INDEX COMPONENTS, FORTUNE 500 INDEX, DOW JONES GLOBAL MARKETS NEWS, DOW JONES EQUITY INVESTOR NORTH AMERICA, DOW JONES GLOBAL PREMIUM INVESTMENT NEWS, DOW JONES ADVISOR MARKETS, BUYBACKS, SPECIALTY RETAILERS, DOW JONES EQUITY TRADING NORTH AMERICA, SHARE CAPITAL, NEWSWIRES CONTENT FILTERED FOR WSJ.COM, RETAILERS-SPECIALTY, GRAND CENTRAL ASSET CLASS EQUITIES, COMPANIES ON THE ECONOMIC REPORT, EARNINGS, SIGNIFICANT STORY, CORPORATE ACTIONS, DOW JONES GLOBAL INDEX COMPONENTS, DOW JONES INTERNATIONAL NEWS SERVICE, RUSSELL 3000 COMPONENT, OFF-TRADING FLOOR INVESTMENT NEWS, DOW JONES GLOBAL EQUITIES NEWS, OFF-TRADING FLOOR PORTFOLIO NEWS, CONSUMER SERVICES, ENTERPRISE NEWS, DOW JONES NEWS SERVICE, S&P 500 INDEX COMPONENT, DOW JONES GLOBAL INVESTMENT NEWS, DOW JONES TOTAL MARKET INDEX COMPONENT, DOW JONES NEWS WIRES Symbols: BBY