Best Buy beats sales estimates as discounts spur demand

[August 30, 2022]  (Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc reported a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly comparable sales on Tuesday as steep discounts helped soften the blow to electronics demand from rampant inflation. 

People walk past a Best Buy store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 22, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

The retailer's shares rose about 4% in premarket trading.

Companies from television panel manufacturer LG Display Co to PlayStation maker Sony Corp have warned of weakening demand in recent weeks as soaring prices of everyday goods brought an end to the COVID-driven boom in home electronics demand. That has forced Best Buy, which cuts its full-year sales forecast in late July, to offer steep discounts on products to get them off shelves.

The company's comparable sales decreased 12.1% in the second quarter ended July 30, compared with analysts' estimates of a 12.6% fall, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Best Buy said it expects sales to decline slightly more than 12.1% in the third quarter.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Aditya Soni)

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