Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:BBY ) early Wednesday [Mar 1, 2017 | 7:11am] posted mixed fourth quarter earnings results, and its soft comparable sales and weak outlook slammed its shares lower in morning trading.

Written by StockNews.com

The Richfield, MN-based electronics retailer reported adjusted Q4 earnings per share (EPS) of $1.95, which was a whopping $0.28 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.67.

Revenues fell 1% from last year to $13.48 billion, missing analysts’ view for $13.62 billion.

On a sour note, comparable sales (“comps”) fell -0.7% in the latest period, at the low end of the company’s guidance range of -1% to +1%. Comps are considered a key indicator of a retailer’s health, since they only measure year-over-year sales at stores open at least 12 months.

Best Buy said that domestic revenue fell 1.4% in Q4 to $12.3 billion, while domestic online sales jumped 17.5% to $2.3 billion. The company has made it a huge point of emphasis in recent years to boost its online presence, in order to better compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart.

Looking ahead, BBY provided a Q1 outlook that was much worse than analysts had expected. It forecast first-quarter EPS of $0.35 to $0.40, while Wall Street is looking for $0.49 for the quarter. Q1 revenues are seen between $8.2 and $8.3 billion, also below the consensus $8.47 billion estimate.

For the full year, Best Buy’s guidance was in-line with analysts’ view. The retailer expects 2017 revenues to increase 1.5% to about $40 billion, while Wall Street expects $39.81 billion in sales for the year.

The company commented on its soft outlook via press release:

“[Our] quarterly performance can fluctuate based on a number of factors including product cycles, inventory availability and industry dynamics. Our Q1 FY18 guidance reflects the softness we have seen reported so far this quarter in the NPD-tracked categories and continued softness in the mobile phone category due both to last year’s product recall and the assumption that new phone launches will occur later in the quarter than they did last year.”

On a positive note, BBY announced a new $3 billion share repurchase plan, which it expects to complete over the next two years, along with a big 21% boost to its quarterly dividend payout. That brings its dividend up to $0.34 per share, or $1.36 on an annualized basis.

Those measures weren’t enough to inspire investors to hold onto the stock, however, as Best Buy shares plunged $4.13 (-9.36%) in premarket trading Wednesday. Year-to-date, BBY had gained 3.42% prior to today’s report, versus a 5.79% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

BBY currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of B (Buy), and is ranked #4 of 35 stocks in the Specialty Retailers category.