(Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc predicted tepid holiday-quarter earnings on Tuesday, raising fears that weak demand for Apple Inc's newest iPhones are already starting to show up in the results of major consumer electronics retailers.
Best Buy's shares, which have fallen about 9 percent this year, fell a further 3 percent before the opening bell on Tuesday.
Recent reports of lower demand for Apple's newest iPhones make it likely that Best Buy expects weak smartphone sales, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
A number of smartphone parts manufacturers, which count Apple as a major customer, have cut their sales forecasts in recent weeks, indicating that demand maybe slowing for the Cupertino-based company's pricey new iPhones.
Apple sold fewer iPhones than expected in the quarter ended September and warned this month that sales for the holiday shopping quarter would likely miss Wall Street estimates.
Computers and mobile phones made up about 47 percent of Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy's U.S. revenue in the third quarter ended Nov. 3.
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A year earlier, Best Buy said the delayed launch of the iPhone X cost the company more than $100 million in sales in last year's third quarter.
Best Buy is also spending heavily on new tech support services, faster delivery and new distribution centers that have greater capacity to house popular products.
The company expects adjusted earnings of between $2.48 and $2.58 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings of $2.58 per share.
Still, Best Buy's U.S. same-store sales climbed 4.3 percent in the third quarter, topping analysts' expectations of a 3.7 percent increase, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Its net income surged to $277 million from $239 million a year earlier, while total revenue reached $9.59 billion, rising 2.9 percent year-over-year. Excluding one-time items, Best Buy earned 93 cents per share.
Analysts had expected earnings of 85 cents per share and revenue of $9.57 billion.
(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)
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