Best Buy Slashes 2009 Forecast On Slumping Sales

Richfield, MN (AHN) - Best Buy Co cut its fiscal 2009 earnings guidance on Wednesday as the company said it faces the most difficult retail environment it has ever seen. The new forecast fell well below analyst estimates.

The country's largest electronic retailer said it now expects fiscal 2009 earnings between $2.30 and $2.90 a share. Original estimates were for $3.25 to $3.40 a share.

The company also revised revenue forecast, expecting $43.7 billion to $45.4 billion for the year. Best Buy's fiscal year ends in February.

Both sets of numbers are below analyst estimates for 2009 earnings of $3.02 a share on $46.23 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters. The company earned $3.12 a share in fiscal 2008.

"Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we've ever seen," Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson said, according to Reuters. "Best Buy simply can't adjust fast enough to maintain our earnings momentum for this year."

Best Buy expects same-store sales for the year to fall 1 percent. The company just reported a 7.6 percent decline in same-store sales in October, which turned out to be one of the worst months ever for the retail sector on a whole.

Shares of Best Buy fell on the news, trading 7.8 percent lower to $22.00 in late Wednesday trading.