Fiscal 27 comp guidance of down 1% to up 1%, with high end reflecting neutral memory impact.
Best Buy's Q4 results met expectations with a slight revenue decline, but profitability was better than planned. Management provided a cautious FY2027 guidance, expecting flat to slightly negative comparable sales, with growth in computing and mobile phones offset by softness in home theater and appliances. Key highlights include strong progress in its marketplace and ads businesses, with a focus on AI-driven commerce partnerships and management of memory cost inflation. Q4 FY26 revenue of $13.8B declined 1% YoY, but adjusted operating income rate of 5% beat expectations.
Buzzberg readFiscal 27 comp guidance of down 1% to up 1%, with high end reflecting neutral memory impact.Best Buy's Q4 results met expectations with a slight revenue decline, but profitability was better than planned. Management provided a cautious FY2027 guidance, expecting flat to slightly negative comparable sales, with growth in computing and mobile phones offset by softness in home theater and appliances. Key highlights include strong progress in its marketplace and ads businesses, with a focus on AI-driven commerce partnerships and management of memory cost inflation. Q4 FY26 revenue of $13.8B declined 1% YoY, but adjusted operating income rate of 5% beat expectations.Read full analysisCollapse analysis
Best Buy's Q4 results met expectations with a slight revenue decline, but profitability was better than planned. Management provided a cautious FY2027 guidance, expecting flat to slightly negative comparable sales, with growth in computing and mobile phones offset by softness in home theater and appliances. Key highlights include strong progress in its marketplace and ads businesses, with a focus on AI-driven commerce partnerships and management of memory cost inflation. Q4 FY26 revenue of $13.8B declined 1% YoY, but adjusted operating income rate of 5% beat expectations.
FY27 guidance: comparable sales -1% to +1%, adjusted EPS $6.30-$6.60, with gross margin expansion of 30bps driven by ads and marketplace.
Management flagged memory component cost inflation and supply constraints in computing, expected to create headwinds but mitigated by inventory management and vendor partnerships.
Best Buy's marketplace and ads businesses are scaling, with Q4 marketplace GMV of ~$300M and expectations for continued contribution to gross margins.
Revenue$13.814B
reported
EPS$2.61
reported
Gross margin20.86%
reported
Op margin5.02%
reported
What changed this quarter
01
Guidance
Fiscal 27 comp guidance of down 1% to up 1%, with high end reflecting neutral memory impact.
Guidance · revenue to $41.65B
02
Supply
Memory cost inflation is driving supply uncertainty, with plans to bring in as much inventory as possible.
Q4 FY26 revenue of $13.8B declined 1% YoY, but adjusted operating income rate of 5% beat expectations.
03
AI
AI glasses and other emerging categories are expected to contribute about half a point to growth.
Management highlighted AI as a key driver of computing demand and product innovation, and outlined partnerships with OpenAI, Google, and Wizard to enable AI-driven shopping experiences and agentic commerce, positioning Best Buy as an early adopter in retail.
04
Margins
Best Buy ads and marketplace are expected to drive gross profit rate expansion of ~30 bps in fiscal 27.
Reported gross margin was 20.86%, reinforcing the quarter's better-than-guided profitability.
AI, capex & demand read
AI
Platform & monetization
Management highlighted AI as a key driver of computing demand and product innovation, and outlined partnerships with OpenAI, Google, and Wizard to enable AI-driven shopping experiences and agentic commerce, positioning Best Buy as an early adopter in retail.
Demand
Bookings & conversion
The guidance is cautious, reflecting the mixed macro environment, but also highlights growth opportunities in computing, AI, and emerging categories. The low end reflects memory constraints; the high end assumes price increases offset lower units.
Capex
Investment and capacity
Capex is expected to increase to approximately $750 million in fiscal 27, up from $704 million in fiscal 26, funding store refreshes, digital initiatives, and AI-related technology investments.
Tone · Measured
Management acknowledged mixed macro conditions and memory cost pressures but expressed confidence in navigating them through vendor partnerships and strategic initiatives.
Supply-chain alpha
A1
Memory component cost inflation/supply constraints are impacting computing; management is pulling in inventory and prioritizing vendor relationships, with promotions being pulled back first before price increases hit.
“there is a new technology trend, as Corey mentioned, as we get into the middle of the year with RGB technology across all of our major suppliers, we do think that's going to drive a lot of interest.”
Vendor-provided labor hours (Meta, etc.) grew 20% in 2H25 and are expected to grow again in 2027, indicating vendors are investing in physical retail as a channel.
Best Buy is leveraging OpenAI's ChatGPT as a new product discovery and sales channel, positioning it as an early retail partner for AI-driven commerce.
“we're partnering with OpenAI to give our customers a new way to explore and discover our products. We're among the early retailers to make it easier for our product catalog to be displayed on ChatGPT...”
Memory component cost inflation/supply constraints are impacting computing; management is pulling in inventory and prioritizing vendor relationships, with promotions being pulled back first before price increases hit. — Signals near-term price pressure and potential margin impact across PC supply chain.
“We do expect consumers to spend a portion of their higher tax refunds at Best Buy concentrated in the first quarter.”
… we are guiding comparable sales growth in the range of down 1% to up 1%. I'll highlight some key assumptions. Consistent with the past several quarters, we expect to see a consumer who is still spending but is value focused and attracted to sales moments. Importantly, while customers continue to be thoughtful about big ticket purchases, they are willing to spend on high price point products when they need to or when there is technology innovation. We do expect consumers to spend a portion of their higher tax refunds at Best Buy concentrated in the first quarter. From a product category perspective, we are planning for continued growth in computing, driven by industry momentum from replacement cycles, the end of support for Windows 10, and innovation driven by AI. We expect continued growth in mobile phones from the new carrier labor models and system enhancements we have implemented over the past year. And we expect continued growth in our newer emerging categories that I referenced earlier, like AI glasses, 3D printers, collectibles and toys, health rings, and PC gaming handhelds. And we see opportunities to improve the sales trends in home theater from expanded store …
Vendor-provided labor hours (Meta, etc.) grew 20% in 2H25 and are expected to grow again in 2027, indicating vendors are investing in physical retail as a channel. — Vendor-funded in-store labor is a growing revenue offset for Best Buy, boosting profitability.
“we have the best relationship with vendor partners and our relationship with meta is Phenomenal the way that they show up in our stores...”
Vendor-provided labor hours (Meta, etc.) grew 20% in 2H25 and are expected to grow again in 2027, indicating vendors are investing in physical retail as a channel. — Vendor-funded in-store labor is a growing revenue offset for Best Buy, boosting profitability.
Memory component cost inflation/supply constraints are impacting computing; management is pulling in inventory and prioritizing vendor relationships, with promotions being pulled back first before price increases hit. — Signals near-term price pressure and potential margin impact across PC supply chain.
Best Buy's marketplace GMV hit ~$300M in Q4 and is driving unit market share growth, suggesting a structural shift in retail distribution. — Best Buy is building an e-commerce marketplace that directly competes with Amazon for third-party seller share.
… such as field installation and end-to-end product support services like device lifecycle management. Our Best Buy business team generated more than $1.1 billion in revenue in fiscal 26, and we expect to generate a mid-single-digit sales growth rate again in fiscal 27. Now I'd like to provide an update on our Best Buy Marketplace. First, we have been very pleased with the outcome and performance. Our customers are responding favorably, too, as sales ramped through the back half and represented approximately $300 million in domestic GMV in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, our five-star ratings for third-party purchase experiences are consistent with that of first-party purchases. This outcome affirms that the team adopted the appropriate design principles to deliver a seamless customer experience, regardless of whether the product is 1P or 3P. And customer return rates for Marketplace items continue to be lower than our 1P return rates. These customers are taking advantage of the convenient return to store option for more than 80% of product returns. Top unit categories in Q4 included mobile phone accessories, computer accessories, movies, and small kitchen appliances, …