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Best Buy surpassed Wall Street’s revenue and earnings expectations for the holiday quarter on Thursday.
But the retailer navigated through a period of tepid consumer electronics demand and guided to a softer year ahead.
In a news release on Thursday, CEO Corie Barry said Best Buy expects the coming year to be one “of increasing industry sales stabilization.”

People walk past a Best Buy store in Manhattan, New York City, November 22, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Best Buy surpassed Wall Street’s revenue and earnings expectations for the holiday quarter on Thursday, even as the retailer navigated through a period of tepid consumer electronics demand and guided for a softer year ahead.
For this fiscal year, Best Buy anticipates revenue will range from $41.3 billion to $42.6 billion. That would mark a drop from the most recently ended fiscal year, when full-year revenue totaled $43.45 billion. It said comparable sales will range from flat to a 3% decline.

One challenge that will affect sales in the year ahead: it is a week shorter. Best Buy said the extra week in the past fiscal year lifted revenue by about $735 million and boosted diluted earnings per share by about 30 cents.
In a news release Thursday, CEO Corie Barry said Best Buy expects the coming year to be one “of increasing industry sales stabilization.”
She said the company is “focused on sharpening our customer experiences and industry positioning,” along with driving up its operating income rate. That metric is expected to improve in the coming year, as Best Buy benefits from changes to its annual membership program, a newer moneymaker for the retailer.
Here’s what the consumer electronics retailer reported for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2024 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $2.72, adjusted vs. $2.52 expected
Revenue: $14.65 billion vs. $14.56 billion expected

Best Buy has dealt with slower demand in part due to the strength of its sales during the pandemic. Like home improvement companies, Best Buy saw outsized spending as shoppers were stuck at home. Plus, many items that the retailer sells like laptops, refrigerators and home theater systems tend to be pricier and less frequent purchases.

The retailer has cited other challenges, too: Shoppers have been choosier about making big purchases while dealing with inflation-driven higher prices of food and more. Plus, they’ve returned to splitting their dollars between services and goods after pandemic years of little activity.
Even so, Best Buy put up a quarter that was better than feared. In the three-month period that ended Feb. 3, the company’s net income fell by 7% to $460 million, or $2.12 per share, from $495 million, or $2.23 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped from $14.74 billion a year earlier.
Comparable sales, a metric that includes sales online and at stores open at least 14 months, declined 4.8% during the quarter as shoppers bought fewer appliances, mobile phones, tablets and home theater setups than the year-ago period. Gaming, on the other hand, was a strong sales category in the holiday quarter.
In the U.S., Best Buy’s comparable sales dropped 5.1% and its online sales decreased by 4.8%.
Best Buy paid dividends of $198 million and spent $70 million on share buybacks during the period. On Thursday, the company said its board of directors had approved a 2% increase in the regular quarterly dividend to 94 cents per share, which will be paid in April.
As of Wednesday’s close, Best Buy’s stock is up nearly 2% so far this year. The company has underperformed the approximately 6% gains of the S&P 500 during that period. Shares of Best Buy closed at $79.68 on Wednesday, bringing the company’s market value to $17.16 billion.
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Pfizer’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus maintained protection for older adults across two full seasons of the disease in a late-stage clinical trial.
The shot’s protection declined from where it was after one RSV season, but the new data still suggests that the jab generally remains effective over time in adults ages 60 and above.
The results come ahead of a meeting of an advisory panel to the CDC, which will consider whether seniors should take RSV shots annually or every other year.

Respiratory syncytial virus vial.
Manjurul | Istock | Getty Images

Pfizer’s vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus maintained protection for older adults across two full seasons of the disease in an ongoing late-stage clinical trial, the company announced Thursday.
The shot’s efficacy declined slightly compared with the levels of protection after one RSV season, but the new data suggests that the jab generally offers durable protection for adults ages 60 and above, who are more vulnerable to severe illness from RSV. The launch of Pfizer’s vaccine, known as Abrysvo, and another RSV shot from GlaxoSmithKline last year proved to be a boon for both companies, with the jabs accounting for hundreds of millions in just half a year on the market. 

A single dose of Pfizer’s vaccine was 77.8% effective against more severe lower respiratory tract illness with three or more symptoms through a second season, down from the 88.9% efficacy following the end of one season. Those symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, rapid and shallow breathing, and mucus production.
The shot was roughly 55.7% effective against a less severe form of that condition with two or more symptoms after the end of season two, according to the initial data on more than 37,000 participants in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The jab showed 66.7% efficacy against that condition after one RSV season. 
Pfizer noted that the vaccine showed consistent efficacy against RSV A and RSV B, which are the two major subtypes of the virus, after the second RSV season. The shot was specifically 80% or more effective against each type in patients with the more severe form of lower respiratory tract illness.
No new adverse events were reported by patients after the two seasons.
The results come ahead of a meeting of an advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday, which will consider whether seniors should take RSV shots annually or every other year.

Analysts don’t expect the committee to make a final recommendation until June – a decision that may have huge implications for Moderna, which is hoping to launch its own RSV jab this year. 

More CNBC health coverage

Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said in a note last week that the firm sees a 50% to 70% likelihood that the panel will recommend annual vaccination, which would put Moderna in a position to achieve “at least equivalent market share” to Pfizer and GSK. A biennial recommendation based on data on GSK’s shot across two seasons would “reduce competitive positioning” for Moderna, he noted. 
In older adults, GSK’s shot showed a cumulative efficacy of 67.2% against lower respiratory tract illness over two RSV seasons. That’s compared with 82.6% after one season of the virus. 
GSK’s vaccine booked around £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) in sales last year. Meanwhile, Pfizer’s shot, which is also approved for expectant mothers who can pass on protection to their children, recorded about $890 million in revenue in 2023. 
RSV kills 6,000 to 10,000 older adults and hospitalizes 60,000 to 160,000 of them every year, according to the CDC. 
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Ford Motor is rolling out Tesla Supercharging capabilities to owners of its electric vehicles in the U.S. and Canada.
Current Ford EV customers can reserve a free charging adapter through June 30, the company said. After that period, the cost will be $230.
The adapter is needed to connect non-Tesla vehicles with a different charging technology to Tesla’s charging network. Here’s how the process works.

An all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E at a Tesla Supercharger station charging.

DETROIT – Ford Motor is rolling out Tesla Supercharging capabilities to owners of its electric vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. The launch begins Thursday, but is expected to be supply constrained at the start.
The Detroit automaker was the first to announce a deal with Tesla to utilize the EV maker’s Supercharger network. The vast majority of automakers in the U.S. have since followed. Under the deals, companies such as Ford will adopt Tesla’s charging port for future EV models.

In the meantime, an adapter is needed to connect non-Tesla vehicles, which utilize different charging technology, to Tesla’s network. Ford says the partnership will more than double access to fast chargers for its owners — but it may take some time to distribute the adapters to all customers.
“We are supply constrained as we move forward, and we do believe in the initial phases of launch demand will exceed supply,” Ken Williams, Ford director of charging and energy services, said during a media briefing. “We are going to try to manage that demand in a first-come, first-serve basis.”
Williams declined to disclose how many adapters the company currently has to offer its EV customers, who in the U.S. bought roughly 140,000 EVs from Ford since 2023. The adapters are expected to begin shipping to customers in late March, Ford said.
Tesla, which designed the adapter and is handling distribution of them to automakers, did not respond to request for comment on specifics.

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Ford Motor vs. Tesla stock

Fast chargers are capable of adding hundreds of miles of driving range in an hour or less, depending on the vehicle. That’s compared to less powerful chargers that can take hours, if not longer, to do so.

Automakers last year started agreeing to adopt Tesla’s charging technology to gain access to its already extensive charging network in lieu of or in addition to building their own chargers (or waiting for others such as the federal government to do so).
Ford is not receiving any revenue or paying Tesla for access to the Tesla Supercharger network, according to a spokesman for the Detroit automaker.

Ford customers

Current Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E retail customers can reserve a free charging adapter through Ford’s owner app or at Ford.com/FastChargingAdapter by June 30, the company said. After that period, the adapters will cost $230 apiece.
Once at the website, customers need to login or enroll in Ford’s “BlueOval Charge Network” through its FordPass App to reserve an adapter. Customers who are not yet enrolled in BlueOval Charge Network will be prompted to enroll before ordering their fast charging adapter.
The adapters will be mailed out based on reservations, and some customers, depending on when they register, may experience an undisclosed wait.

Ordering a Tesla adapter for F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E

From Ford’s dedicated site, log in to Ford Pass.
Click on the ‘Reserve your adapter at no cost’ button to start the ordering process.
Your shipping information will be prepopulated based on your Ford Pass account, just verify that all the information is accurate, update if needed, and click ‘Reserve’.
You’ll get a confirmation screen with helpful information on a forthcoming automated over-the-air software update and a link to Ford’s FAQ Hub.
You’ll also receive a confirmation email with a link to check the status of your reservation.

Ford owners will be able to utilize the Tesla charger through the FordPass App, or Charge Assist App in the vehicle’s touchscreen, which eliminates the need for onsite credit card use. They also will be able to use Tesla’s app.
The adapter is needed to connect what’s known as a Combined Charging System (CCS) charger port, which was the U.S. industry standard, to Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) system.
Under the Ford-Tesla agreement, Ford says owners as of Thursday will be granted access to more than 15,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada.
Tesla says it has more than 50,000 Supercharger connectors worldwide. The company does not break out how many are in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Energy reports the country only has about 6,900 CCS fast chargers publicly available.
With the addition of Tesla Superchargers, Ford says its BlueOval Charge Network customers have access to more than 126,000 chargers, including more than 28,000 fast chargers. More

Birkenstock beat holiday quarter revenue expectations, reporting a 22% year-on-year jump, as the German sandal company benefited from higher pricing and rising U.S. demand.
The company swung to a loss during the quarter as it worked to expand its production capabilities.
Birkenstock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in October under the ticker “BIRK.”

Employee Mo Soto arranges a shelf at a Birkenstock store on October 10, 2023 in Venice, California. 
Ethan Swope | Getty Images

Birkenstock on Thursday beat holiday quarter revenue expectations, reporting a 22% year-on-year jump, as the German sandal company benefited from higher pricing and rising U.S. demand.
As a newly public company, Birkenstock is still getting into a public reporting rhythm and only just released its fiscal 2023 results and 2024 guidance a little over a month ago. On Thursday, it said it stands by guidance issued then and still expects sales to be between 1.74 billion euros ($1.89 billion) and 1.76 billion euros ($1.91 billion), representing growth of 17% to 18%.

Here’s how the shoemaker did in its first fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: 9 euro cents adjusted vs. 9 euro cents expected
Revenue: 302.9 million euros vs. 288.7 million euros expected.

The company reported a net loss of 7.15 million euros ($7.75 million) for the three-month period that ended December 31, or a loss of 4 euro cents per share. A year earlier, it reported a loss of 9.19 million euros ($9.96 million), or a loss of 5 euro cents per share. Excluding one time items, Birkenstock reported a profit of 17 million euros ($18.4 million) or 9 euro cents per share.
Sales rose to 302.9 million euros ($328.5 million), up 22% from 248.5 million euros ($269.4 million) a year earlier.
CEO Oliver Reichert has said the company deliberately engineers its distribution strategy so demand is higher than supply but its working to build out its production capabilities to narrow that gap. The chief executive said those investments, along with other efforts the company is undertaking to drive growth, is having a “planned” but “temporary” impact to profitability.
“Our results for the first quarter of 2024 once again demonstrate the resilience of our business model and the strong sustained demand for our products. Given our engineered distribution model, demand continues to outpace supply in all regions, channels and categories,” said Reichert. “In the medium-term, we are confident we will continue to deliver our objectives of a gross profit margin over 60% and an adjusted EBITDA margin in the low thirties percent.”

The company’s gross profit margin inched down to 61% from 61.7% during the same period last year, with Birkenstock citing “unfavorable currency translation and the planned, temporary under-absorption from our ongoing capacity expansion.” The company said it continues to carefully track input costs and is mitigating inflationary pressures with “executed, selective price increases.”
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 12% year-on-year to 81 million euros, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 26.9%, down from 29.1% a year earlier.
The newly public shoemaker, which started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “BIRK” in October, saw a muted debut when it first hit the public markets, with shares sliding more than 12% on its first day as a public company. Shares have since rebounded and are up more than 5% this year, as of the Wednesday close. 
In January, the company reported its fiscal 2023 results and said it was the most successful year in the company’s nearly 250-year long history. Sales grew 20% and the retailer made strides in growing its direct-to-consumer business, which comes with better profits and more customer insights than relying on wholesale partners. 
During the quarter, Birkenstock saw more gains in its direct channels and said DTC sales accounted for 53% of overall revenue.
As other retailers like Nike, Under Armour and Timberland-owner VF Corp contend with soft demand in North America, Birkenstock reported outsized strength in the region with sales up 21% during fiscal 2023. That momentum continued during its fiscal first quarter with sales up 14% in the region. In Europe, where demand in some parts has been softer than in North America, sales grew 32%, and in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, revenue jumped 47%.
The recent growth comes several years after private equity powerhouse L Catterton acquired a majority stake in Birkenstock in 2021, ending nearly 250 years of family ownership that began when German cobbler Johann Adam Birkenstock founded the company in 1774. 
Birkenstock’s new owners set off on an aggressive growth strategy that focused on growing direct-to-consumer sales, exiting certain wholesale partnerships and focusing on driving sales of items with higher price points. Within a few years, its sales nearly doubled and its market cap is now around $9.7 billion, double its 2021 valuation of $4.85 billion. 
Since going public, Birkenstock has used some of its proceeds to pay down debt. In the fall, it made a number of debt payments that reduced its net leverage. As of the end of December, Birkenstock was levered at 2.6 times EBITDA.
Correction: Birkenstock reported a loss per share of 4 euro cents. Adjusting for one-time items, it reported a profit of 9 euro cents per share, matching Wall Street estimates according to LSEG. An earlier version of this story misstated those figures. More

Maserati’s first GranCabrio convertible in five years is expected to go on sale this summer in the U.S. with a top speed of nearly 200 miles per hour and likely a six-figure price tag.
The sports car is based off the Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo sedan that’s currently on sale.
The new GranCabrio could be the last gas-powered version of the well-known drop top, as Maserati plans to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2028.

At launch, the Maserati GranCabrio is available in the Trofeo trim level. It includes a 3.0 liter twin-turbo V6 engine.

Maserati’s first GranCabrio convertible since 2019 is expected to go on sale this summer in the U.S. with a top speed of nearly 200 miles per hour and likely a six-figure price tag that will also push the needle.
The sports car is based off the Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo sedan that’s currently on sale starting at $190,000 with the same 3.0 liter twin-turbo V6 engine. Both vehicles produce 542 horsepower and 460 foot-pounds of torque, according to the carmaker.

Maserati, which is owned by Stellantis, said the price of the convertible model will be announced closer to when the vehicle is available to customers. Convertibles are typically priced higher than their hardtop counterparts.
The 2024 GranCabrio could assist Maserati in growing its profits and sales this year. The Italian performance carmaker achieved adjusted operating income of 141 million euros, or $152.9 million, in 2023, down 30% from the prior year despite slight increases in revenue and sales during that period.

Maserati’s first GranCabrio convertible since 2019 is scheduled to go on sale this summer in the U.S.

The exterior of the vehicle, similar to its hardtop sibling, is less aggressive, with a smoother design and styling compared to the last generation.
The interior of the four-seat GranCabrio, which was revealed online Thursday, features sporty styling, plush amenities and a host of digital screens and gauges.
The car also includes an “innovative neck warmer” standard on the front driver and passenger seats for chillier temperatures. It works by blowing warm air directly from the seats at three intensity levels, the company said.

The new GranCabrio, which first launched as a nameplate in 2009, could be the last gas-powered version of the well-known drop top. Maserati plans to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2028.
However, amid slower-than-expected sales of EVs, several automakers have delayed or cut investments.

Maserati’s first GranCabrio convertible since 2019 is scheduled to go on sale this summer in the U.S.

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