The thirst for consumer electronics is not waning, even as the pandemic does. Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) reported record Fiscal Year 2022 Q1 revenues of $11.6 billion from February 1, 2021 to May 1, 2021, a 37.2% growth compared to last year’s same time period.

Of course, that rapid growth compared to 2020 seemingly would be expected because the same time frame last year was the onset of the shutdowns due to COVID-19. Yet the company labeled the sales “stronger than expected,” and sales were so strong that Best Buy is raising its outlook for the rest of the fiscal year to between 3% and 6% revenue growth.

“Customer demand for technology products and services during the quarter was extraordinarily high,” says Corie Barry, Best Buy CEO. “This demand is being driven by continued focus on the home, which encompasses many aspects of our lives including working, learning, cooking, entertaining, redecorating and remodeling. The demand was also bolstered by government stimulus programs and the strong housing environment.”

“Our teams across the organization met the demand with remarkable execution. From our merchant and supply chain teams working behind the scenes to our Blue Shirts and Geek Squad agents on the front lines – our employees once again showed amazing flexibility and execution managing extraordinary volumes. Most importantly, they provided exceptional customer service in a safe environment,” adds Barry.

Barry continues, “It has become evident throughout the pandemic that technology is even more important to people’s lives, and we are excited about what that means for our business going forward, especially in combination with both the heightened technology innovation that supports the more home-based way of work and life and our unique ability to inspire and support our customers.”

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Best Buy Raises 2022 Outlook

Best Buy CFO Matt Bilunas says, “The year has clearly started out much stronger than we originally expected. The sales momentum is continuing into Q2 and we are raising our annual comparable sales growth outlook. As we think about the back half of this year, we expect shopping behavior will evolve as customers are able to spend more time on activities like eating out, traveling and other events. It is difficult to know exactly how that impacts our business, especially as we lap particularly strong sales in the back half of last year. Therefore, at this time, we are leaving our original FY22 back-half sales assumptions unchanged.”

Specifically, Best Buy is anticipating its comparable sales outlook for the full fiscal year to be up between 3% and 6%, that is compared to its original forecast for the year which called for a -2% to +1% sales growth. For Q2, which runs from May 1, 2021 to the beginning of September, the company is predicting 17% sales growth.

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