Being a model of consistency obviously hasn't gotten old for electronics and entertainment retailer Best Buy
Best Buy's first-quarter earnings came in at $0.34 per share, which was slightly better than the $0.33 expected by analysts and trounced the $0.21 earned last year. Revenues of $5.48 billion slightly beat expectations and bested the 2003 number by 17%. Same-store sales (sales at stores open at least a year) were up a healthy 8.3% as the company benefited from increases in flat-panel television and digital camera sales.
Now that we got the preliminaries out of the way, let's focus on the main event, which is a view of Best Buy's market. The company's main competitor, Circuit City
When you stroll through stores like Costco
Many companies have come and gone in the consumer electronics and appliances industry, but Best Buy is here to stay. With its rock-solid management team and a clear vision, the company has quite a bright future. The shares are trading at about 16 times next year's earnings estimate of $3.36 per share; this still compares very favorably to the near 20% growth expected next year. The bottom line is that Circuit City is making some strides but Best Buy is truly the industry's best buy.
Amazon.com and eBay, along with Best Buy, are among David Gardner's Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. And Costco is one of Tom Gardner's recommendations. To learn more, sign up for six months with a money-back guarantee.
Fool contributor Phil Wohl spent more than 12 years on Wall Street and now concentrates his writing on more fictional characters. He has no stake in any firm mentioned above.