Best Buy’s incoming CEO Corie Barry and outgoing CEO Hubert Joly shared top billing on a conference call with analysts on Thursday, a symbol of what Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, calls the retailer’s “clear vision” and good management.
The electronics retailer under Joly emerged from the Great Recession and Amazon’s incursion into the space with solid execution of a turnaround, and Saunders sees it as well poised to weather incoming challenges, including a dearth of electronics must-haves and the fact that consumers appear to be less well off than a year ago. Its modest sales increase appears to be dependent on its acquisition of health care services company GreatCall, which Barry said on Thursday is an indication of the wisdom of that purchase. Without GreatCall, though, the quarter’s revenue growth would have been even more modest.
