Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY) saw robust sales in December. Revenue of $8.5 billion was up 13% year-over-year. The gain can in part be attributed to a jump of 8.2% in comparable store sales.

Company Description

Best Buy Co., Inc. is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $45 billion in annual revenue.

Bullish Outlook

Best Buy, which was the subject of recent brokerage upgrades, continues to see bullish earnings forecasts. Analysts polled by Zacks lifted estimates from the 2 months-ago level of $2.95 per share to $3.10 for the year ending February 2010. For the following year, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.34 per share was boosted from $3.19 over the past 60 days.

Solid Sales Growth

The company saw robust sales in December. Revenue of $8.5 billion was up 13% year-over-year. The gain can in part be attributed to a jump of 8.2% in comparable store sales.

Best Buy’s domestic business brought in $6.7 billion in revenue in December, an increase of 13%. Domestic comparable store sales jumped 9.3%.

Rewarding Shareholders

The company declared a regular quarterly dividend of 14 cents per share, which was paid out on January 26.

Best Buy offers an industry-leading dividend yield of 1.6%.

Strong Quarter

The company posted third-quarter earnings of 53 cents per share, surpassing the previous year’s 35 cents and topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 23%. Earnings have come in above the Zacks Consensus Estimate by an average of 12% over the past 4 straight quarter.

Favorable Comparisons

Best Buy’s return on equity (ROE) of 22.5% beats the industry average of 16%. The company’s net profit margin of 2.3% is in line with industry average. Earnings per share are expected to grow 13.4% over the next 3 – 5 years, versus an industry average of 12.6%.

Alex Kolb is the Growth & Income Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. He also writes the popular daily commentary column for the ZacksElite.com service. Zacks Investment Research