Best Buy profit pinched by discounting ( HGTV, DSL, Flat screen tv's ) ( Merry Christmas )

MarketWatch ^ | 01/05/2007 | Jennifer Waters & Angela Moore

[george76]

Best Buy Co. turned in disappointing third-quarter results on Tuesday as the battle to sell flat-panel TVs, MP3s and other hot electronic gadgets has slashed prices and cut into profit.

the nation's largest home-electronics retailer said the "very competitive climate" -- plasma and LCD TV prices dropped 25% to 30% -- held its profit to $150 million, or 31 cents a share, up nearly 8% from last year's income of $138 million, or 28 cents a share, but short of Wall Street's expectations. That sent shares lower by 5% to $51.30.

The total results were mixed compared with Wall Street's forecast, but notably below the per-share profit expectation.

On a conference call with analysts, the retailer's top executives were unapologetic. "We understand that this is viewed as a miss," said Chief Executive Brad Anderson. "We are not disappointed in our performance. We realize we may have a contrarian point of view, but from our perspective we are having a healthy year."

[WashingtonSource]

More illiteracy in the MSM. They don't know the difference between HGTV and HDTV.

[relictele]

They get the float on the interest free loan, too.

True. The office supply retailers were hooked on the rebates like crack for a long time - then realized that their purported target market (businesses) were avoiding the products and stores in favor of Internet retailers especially for big-ticket items (PCs, etc.). They tried to soft-pedal it, but many of the rebates are gone from Staples et al. Of course, Best Buy is aimed at the mass market (read: mouth-breathing idiots) so of course the rebates stay at BB.

[Las Vegas Dave]

Revised reply to you in bold italics;

(QAM tuner is able to decode the digital signals on cable, so the free locals can be seen in HD without paying the cable companies monthly fee for the cable box rental. OTA does not require a QAM tuner..)

[sam_paine]

At Best Buy, the gross profit rate fell nearly one percentage point to 23.5% of revenue compared with last year's 24.4%.

A GM of 23.5% is ok for BIG-TV, but 10% GM for BIG-OIL is gouging.

Oh, and the 38% take for FedGov on income is "fair."

[sam_paine]

The fact that they can manipulate stock value with phony "expectations" is in itself a fraud and cause for concern.

I agree that the quarterly numbers expectation/guidance game is totally disconnected from the reality of a company's performance.

Sometimes, though, you can ignore all that noise and invest in a good company and get nice returns on dividends and share price over a long time.

But in their defense, the analysts get fed the expectations by the company and their filings/reports. Management ought to be able to predict what their performance is going to be, good or bad, at least 3 months into the future, don't you think?

Having an unexpected profit does not reflect any better on their management skills than unexpected losses does.

If I'm trying to weight my portfolio on risk, I don't want a damn appliance store to be the wacky high-beta gamble!

[sam_paine]

Thank you for reminding folks of FY/CY. I wish the fed would sync everything to an arbitrary metric calendar or Mayan wheel or something to eradicate this confusion. I hate it!

[Tijeras_Slim]

http://www.bestbuysux.org


Horror stories.

[george76]

Excellent : Who is really gouging ?

The oil companies at 10 percent, Best Buy at 24 plus percent, or the government at...

[sam_paine]

The oil companies at 10 percent, Best Buy at 24 plus percent, or the government at...

And which one gives me the best VALUE!?!? Oil companies enable pretty much everything I do, with my car, with shipping, travel...

And the IRS gives me what for my money? Toll roads? Teacher's unions? Chrysler? (Dead Islamists....ok...that I'll pay for...)

[george76]

Horror stories...


Best Buy against their employees and against their customers.

[finnman69]

The same people who finance their 50" TVs are the same ones who bun new homes 5 times their income with interest only no money down loans, and struggle with expensive car lease payments.

Disasters waiting to happen.

[Nowhere Man]

I've only gotten extended warranties on a projection TV I bought years ago, and intended to keep for years. (Back then the prices weren't falling), but I got 75% knocked off of the contract price they quoted, so I figured it might be a good deal.

As it turned out it was. I easily saved several hundred dollars on repairs. Sometimes they do make sense. But in general, they don't at any price. Just depends on how long you want to keep the thing, and what you think the replacement cost will be.

I never cared for Best Buy, except for the occasional software buy, game or small item, I tend to live the computer stuff to Staples or CompUSA. I do buy the extended warranties on computer stuff like CD burners and so on. I bought a CD burner from CompUSA in 2003, and it died in 2005, 5 weeks before the replacement warranty ran out but I was about to get a new one for the same price I paid for the old. Paying an extra $14 at the time was a bargain, otherwise I'd be set back $100+. Well, the warranty in 2005 was raised to $17 but still I think it is a good idea.

TV wise, well, I still watch a 1982 Zenith console, 25 inch color, since we bought it new in early 1983. Picture still great as the day we got her (IMHO, it rivals many HDTV's I've seen), been watching her daily since then.

[Nowhere Man]

You know what else I find interesting is if you have the knack for tinkering and fixing things, sometimes it is better to pick up used equipment. Myself, last week, I scored an old CD player designed for console stereos. Well, I figure I have a couple of 1970's era console component stereos, well, I plan to make some room so I'll set one up in my room. I have a nice Panasonic cassette and AM/FM console from that time with huge speakers. I have an old turntable too. Anyways, this old CD player was by a dumpster, I took it come. I plugged it in, it turned on, good sign there. The CD carriage doesn't pop out so I crack it open and the other thing wrong is the belt to the mechanism is stretched. If I get a new belt or even a rubber band for a stopgap measure, I could make it work perfectly again. It does play CD's I watched it and listened to it, no problem. It is a General Electric Model 3-7000A CD player, made in May of 1984. Sometimes a little "dumpster diving" doesn't hurt, I'm all set now stereowise. B-)

[pray4liberty]

He may be a patriot as you say but he allows the good old boy network to flourish in his company. Women and minorities (employees and customers) are treated like crap at Best Buy. Just who do they think makes the final decision on big-ticket item purchases?

Former military people who are hired don't stay long, the place is run by a bunch of idiots and they are looked upon as troublemakers for picking up the slack, doing the dirty work and being vocal about making positive change. They are not rewarded for their ideas, but pushed out.

All the allegations at the below website are absolutely true. I know one woman who has been passed over for promotion three times already. She should have been made a manager a long time ago. But, if you're over 40 and not white and/or a woman who is white, they really have no use for you. Don't work there unless you don't mind training a new recruit only to see him promoted over you.

Best Buy Discriminates Against Women and Minorities

It's a class-action suit. If you're sick of this, spread the word.

[Tribune7]

For some strange reason, I didn't buy a thing from Best Buy this Christmas.

I did buy a pile of expensive gifts from Sears though.

[N. Theknow]

HGTV = Huge Gratification TV

[george76]

Best Buy will not be getting my money

http://www.bestbuysux.org/

[CookieMama]

It doesn’t “exploit religion” to wish someone a Merry (happy) Christmas! (You haven’t been around long, have you?) It’s the STORES that have exploited religion, not the other way around. We used to celebrate Christmas in this country as a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. No one fought our right and freedom to do so, even if they disagreed with our beliefs. Now, businesses and unhappy people have turned it into a greedy, mean spirited time of year, with alcohol consumption as the main event. It’s sad to see, along with all the other Constitutional Rights and Freedoms we have lost and are losing daily. The reason you shop at Christmas time to begin with is because of a Christian holiday. “Christmas” is a time of giving gifts to one another, in remembrance of the gifts given to Jesus at His birth. People took our Freedom of Speech and Religion away just because they don’t like what we believe, and CHANGED it into something they preferred...An unholy day! Eventually everyone’s freedoms will be gone..including yours...

[CharacterCounts]

Apple Voiding Smokers' Warranties?

Several years ago my son aged 14 purchased an Ipod from best buy. The clerk really pushed a extended warranty plan and said it would cover everything even damage from dropping the Ipod. With this in mind I purchased the warranty. After about 3 months, my son dropped the Ipod and it was damaged beyond repair.

Of course, when we back to the store, the damage wasn't covered.

To add insult to injury, we then discovered that Apple was providing a replacement warranty (which the clerk never mentioned) that would have covered this loss for the exact same price.

Since that date, I have purchase 4 computers, 1 video camera, 3 flat screen tvs, a video camera, an Itouch and several other electronic items - but none of the purchases were from Best Buy and none of my future purchases will be.

[CharacterCounts]

To be sure, the part I read said that sales INCREASED, but margins did not.

Of course if they had more loyal customers who were not boycotting them the may have not been forced to reduce their margins to attract new sales.