Best Buy (BBY) Shareholder Meeting Full of Empty Promises, Little Else
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Things the interim Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) CEO, Mike Mikan will check off from his to-do list today:
[x] - Ate my Booberry cereal (mmm!).
[x] - Put on a "power" necktie.
[x] - Drove kids to school.
[x] - Ran annual Best Buy shareholders meeting.
[ ] - Inspired shareholder confidence.
One of those boxes isn't checked. If you look at a Best Buy chart for the session, you might note the absence of positive movement.
Ahead of the shareholder meeting in Minnesota today, Best Buy announced a dividend increase. At 17 cents per quarter, that's a hefty 3.5 percent annual yield (up from 3.3 percent at the start of the session). That doesn't seem to be enough for investors.
Mikan said the big box retailer is "on track" to deliver on its annual plan. Best Buy plans to spend more on employee training aimed at selling to customers who are simply using Best Buy as a showroom before buying from another retailer or online.
Other efforts being implemented include simpler price comparisons as well as technology improvements enabling employees to download customer reviews and meet questions head-on before they're asked. Mikan also noted that Best Buy is operating below its potential, something its aiming to change.
Sales have been eluding Best Buy, to the likes of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The losses prompted Best Buy to close 50 locations and focus more on e-commerce sales. Last holiday shopping season, Best Buy basically threw pricing strategy out the door in order to retain or capture market share, a plan that didn't pan out as expected.
Mikan ended saying Best Buy can "compete with Amazon in a healthy way." We're hoping he means the "sales" way.
[x] - Ate my Booberry cereal (mmm!).
[x] - Put on a "power" necktie.
[x] - Drove kids to school.
[x] - Ran annual Best Buy shareholders meeting.
[ ] - Inspired shareholder confidence.
One of those boxes isn't checked. If you look at a Best Buy chart for the session, you might note the absence of positive movement.
Ahead of the shareholder meeting in Minnesota today, Best Buy announced a dividend increase. At 17 cents per quarter, that's a hefty 3.5 percent annual yield (up from 3.3 percent at the start of the session). That doesn't seem to be enough for investors.
Mikan said the big box retailer is "on track" to deliver on its annual plan. Best Buy plans to spend more on employee training aimed at selling to customers who are simply using Best Buy as a showroom before buying from another retailer or online.
Other efforts being implemented include simpler price comparisons as well as technology improvements enabling employees to download customer reviews and meet questions head-on before they're asked. Mikan also noted that Best Buy is operating below its potential, something its aiming to change.
Sales have been eluding Best Buy, to the likes of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). The losses prompted Best Buy to close 50 locations and focus more on e-commerce sales. Last holiday shopping season, Best Buy basically threw pricing strategy out the door in order to retain or capture market share, a plan that didn't pan out as expected.
Mikan ended saying Best Buy can "compete with Amazon in a healthy way." We're hoping he means the "sales" way.
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