Best Buy Stock Sinks as Retailer Warns About Tariffs and Inflation

Best Buy (BBY) shares plunged nearly 15% to lead S&P 500 decliners Tuesday when the electronics retailer warned that new tariffs and inflation will negatively impact sales.

In a transcript of its fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter earnings call supplied by AlphaSense, CEO Corie Barry explained that the company anticipates “our vendors across our entire assortment will pass along some level of tariff costs to retailers, making price increases for American consumers.”

Barry called the tariffs situation “highly dynamic” with “uncertainty about the duration.” The CEO added that Best Buy was “operating in an uneven environment and expected there would be industry pressure,” and that even though it believes consumers will remain resilient, they are “still dealing with high inflation.”

Best Buy Q4 Results Top Estimates

The comments came after the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.58, with revenue falling nearly 5% year-over-year to $13.95 billion, in part because fiscal 2025 was 13 weeks long and fiscal 2024 was 14 weeks. Comparable store sales grew 0.5%. All three were better than Visible Alpha forecasts.

Best Buy sees full-year adjusted EPS of $6.20 to $6.60, revenue of $41.4 billion to $42.2 billion, and comparable store sales in the range of flat to up 2.0%. However, the company pointed out that its guidance did not take into account recently enacted or proposed tariffs. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for adjusted EPS of $6.60, revenue of $41.77 billion, and comparable store sales growth of 1.81%.

The news sent shares of Best Buy down roughly 14% and into negative territory over the past year.