Best Buy, Circuit City Post In-Line Quarters

Rival electronics discounters

Circuit City

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and

Best Buy

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both posted roughly in-line fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday. Best Buy said first quarter earnings will trial views.

Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City said it earned 73 cents a share in the fourth quarter on $3.39 billion in sales and a 6% increase in same-store sales. The earnings matched analysts' consensus estimate.

The company forecast a loss in the mid- to high-single digits in the current quarter, reflecting reduced contributions from its finance operation due to increased funding costs and "expenses associated with a planned new securitization agreement." The company expects same-store sales to rise in the high-single digits in the first and second quarters and to rise in the mid-single digits in the second half. The consensus estimate of analysts polled by First Call is for the company to earn 3 cents a share in the first quarter, but according to the company the estimates include a contribution from its

CarMax

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unit, the used-car subsidiary that is in the process of being spun off. No guidance for CarMax's first quarter has been issued.

Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Best Buy earned $1.62 a share, a penny above analysts' estimates, on sales of $6.98 billion and a same-store sales gain of 4.5%. The company said first-quarter sales are currently "modestly ahead" of original forecasts, but said earnings are expected to be 30 cents to 32 cents, below First Call's 34-cent consensus.

Best Buy left intact full-year revenue growth guidance of 17% to 20% and earnings guidance of $3.15 to $3.25 a share.

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