Factors Setting The Tone For Best Buy's (BBY) Q4 Earnings

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) is slated to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 results on Mar 1. Last quarter, the company missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.3%. However, it has surpassed earnings estimates in three of the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 18.9%.

Let’s see, how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

What to Expect?

For the quarter under review, the Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $2.03 reflecting a year-over-year increase of over 4%. Notably, the consensus mark has moved up by a couple of cents over the past 30 days. Analysts polled by Zacks expect revenues of $14,490 million, up about 7.5% from the year-ago quarter.

Factors at Play

Robust domestic and international sales are likely to drive the company’s results in the fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks expect domestic revenues to be $13,135 million, up 6.5% year over year, while international revenues are also anticipated to increase nearly 8% to $1,235 million.

Best Buy is making extensive investments to upgrade operations with special focus on developing omni-channel capabilities and strengthening partnership with vendors. Sound promotional strategies and improvement in merchandise margins along with robust expense management are likely to drive the company’s results as well. In recent quarters, the company had reported a massive gain in domestic comparable-online sales on the back of improved traffic, conversion rates and higher average order values.

Further, following the successful completion of “Renew Blue” program, the company has launched a fresh strategy called “Best Buy 2020: Building the New Blue” to explore and pursue growth opportunities, cost optimization and investing in people as well as systems to drive growth. In addition, management had earlier guided fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 enterprise revenues between $14.2 billion and $14.5 billion, and a comparable sales increase of 1-3%. Best Buy had also projected adjusted earnings in the band of $1.89-$1.99 a share.

However, analysts believe that an increase in investment might strain margins. Moreover, the challenging retail landscape and waning store traffic may weigh on the company’s performance.

Best Buy Co., Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model shows that Best Buy is likely to beat estimates this quarter as the stock has the right combination of two key ingredients — a positive Earnings ESP and a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) — for this to happen.

Best Buy has an Earnings ESP of +5.16%, which when combined with the company’s Zacks Rank #2 increases the chances of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Other Stocks With Favorable Combination

Here are three companies you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:

Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE:BURL) has an Earnings ESP of +0.06% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE:WWW) has an Earnings ESP of +0.63% and a Zacks Rank of 2.

Dillard's, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) has an Earnings ESP of +15.83% and a Zacks Rank #2.

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