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Best Buy (BBY) Rides High on Growth Strategies: Apt to Hold

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Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY - Free Report) appears good on the back of its sturdy omnichannel efforts to efficiently cater to consumers. The company continuously focuses on improving its digital capabilities including boosting its services, such as buy online and pickup in store services. BBY is also deepening its customer engagement with more in-home consultations and installations. It is making significant headway in the health and beauty category.

Buoyed by the aforesaid tailwinds, shares of this electronics retailer have gained 13.4% over the course of a year, compared with the industry’s 4.9% drop.

Let’s Delve Deeper

Best Buy is focused on making significant investments in fundamental technology capabilities, such as data and analytics as well as cloud migration to drive scale, efficiency and effectiveness. The company also continues making investments in stores and elevating unique experiences. BBY has been testing various store formats and operating models. It is on track to deliver the fiscal 2024 store plans, including closing 20-30 large format stores and implementing eight Experience store remodels. Moreover, the company has made investments in the distribution center network to improve productivity.

The company provides convenient pickup options like in-store pickup, curbside pickup, lockers and alternate pickup locations. Its consultation service, which supports customers with personalized tech needs, has been gaining traction. The company has also been offering free next-day delivery on several items along with convenience store and curbside pickup options. In fiscal 2023, digital sales accounted for 33% of the domestic revenues versus 19% in fiscal 2020.

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Best Buy’s annual membership program, Best Buy Totaltech, also appears encouraging. The program provides customers tech support from Geek Squad agents, exclusive member prices on merchandise, up to 24 months of product protection on most purchases, and free delivery and installation. From Jun 27, the membership program will offer three tiers, which are My Best Buy, My Best Buy Plus and My Best Buy Total.

My Best Buy will remain the company’s free tier plan for customers looking for convenience, including free shipping with no minimum purchase and gains connected with a member account, such as online access to purchase history, order tracking and fast checkout.

My Best Buy Plus is the latest membership plan for customers wanting value and access. For $49.99 per year, customers get everything including My Best Buy offering with exciting prices and access to product releases. Free two-day shipping with an expanded 60-day return and exchange window on a majority of the products can also be availed.

My Best Buy Total is a membership plan built for customers looking for protection and support. This tier is an evolution of the company’s Totaltech offer at $179.99 per year. It consists of the entire benefits from the Plus tier, along with the Geek Squad 24/7 tech support via in-store, remote, phone or chat on all electronics. This tier also includes up to two years of product protection with AppleCare+ on many new Best Buy purchases. The membership program is likely to contribute nearly 25 basis points of year-over-year operating income rate expansion in fiscal 2024.

To wrap up, Best Buy seems well-poised to tap growth opportunities, given its solid tech-agnostic drives. An expected long-term earnings growth rate of 8.1% coupled with a VGM Score of B further speaks volumes for this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company. For fiscal 2025, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Best Buy’s sales and earnings per share (EPS) is currently pegged at $44.6 billion and $6.86, respectively. These estimates mirror corresponding growth of 1.1% and 14.1% year over year.

Solid Picks in Retail

We have highlighted three better-ranked stocks, namely Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF - Free Report) , Urban Outfitters (URBN - Free Report) and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO - Free Report) .

Abercrombie & Fitch, a leading casual apparel retailer, currently sports a Zacks Rank #1(Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Abercrombie & Fitch’s current financial-year sales and EPS suggests growth of 3.4% and 732%, respectively, from the year-ago reported figures. ANF delivered an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 480.6%.

Urban Outfitters, a sporting goods retailer, currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. The company has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 12.2%.

The consensus estimate for Urban Outfitters’ current financial-year sales and EPS suggests growth of 5.1% and 57.1%, respectively, from the year-ago reported figures.

American Eagle Outfitters, a retailer of casual apparel, accessories and footwear, currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). AEO delivered an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.2%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for American Eagle Outfitters’ current financial-year EPS suggests growth of 4.1%, from the year-ago reported figure.

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