Best Buy raises full-year sales forecast on stimulus spending boost

REUTERS: Best Buy Co Inc on Thursday raised its full-year comparable sales forecast, as fresh stimulus checks helped boost spending at its stores even as a reopening economy threatens to slow last year's pandemic-induced surge in demand.

The retailer's shares, which have gained over 17per cent this year, rose 2.6per cent in premarket trading.

Best Buy was among the biggest retail winners during most of last year as the health crisis led more people to set up home offices and switch to remote learning setups pushing up demand for laptops, webcams, and other computer accessories.

The arrival of US$1,400 stimulus checks in March and new gaming consoles from Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp have also helped keep demand elevated.

Best Buy forecast second-quarter comparable sales to rise 17per cent, compared with analysts' average estimate of a 5.8per cent increase, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Best Buy said it expects full-year comparable sales to rise 3per cent to 6per cent, compared to a previous forecast range of a fall of 2per cent to a rise of 1per cent.

Comparable sales rose 37.2per cent in the first quarter ended May 1 beating analysts' estimates of a 22.7per cent increase.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)