Goldman Sachs Comments on Best Buy's (BBY) Q1
Goldman Sachs maintained a Neutral rating on Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and increased its price target slightly to $29.00 (from $28.00). The change follows Q1 results.
Analyst Matthew J. Fassler said, "BBY continues to manage its cost structure aggressively, and to upgrade and enhance its store-based and online offers. Acceleration in online sales growth to 29%, reflecting improved omnichannel scale and execution, and the extension of the vendor-driven stores-within-stores to home theater through Sony and Samsung, evidence the firm's rapid evolution. At the same time, it is operating in a tough sector - little compelling new product development as of late, and clear long-run challenges associated with channel shift and price transparency. These dynamics were manifested in 1Q results - soft revenues, as expected, and an SG&A-driven beat - and subdued revenue guidance for the middle of the year."
"We are hiking our forecasts to reflect the 1Q EPS beat, with lower costs through the year offset in part by softer sales. We are trimming our 2Q EPS estimate by 1c to $0.35. Our FY14/FY15/FY16 EPS estimates move to $2.45/$2.40/$2.40 from $2.35/$2.30/$2.30 prior. We still expect flattish operating income beyond a recovery year in 2014, and stand above the Street for 4Q on a sharp gross margin recovery, which simply implies\ typical gross margin seasonality," he added. "We raise our 12-month price target to $29 from $28, to reflect rolling our forecasts forward to our next 12 month framework and a higher market multiple (15.6X vs. 15.5X prior)."
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Shares of Best Buy closed at $26.22 yesterday.
