MARKET SAVVY : SAVVY CONFIDENTIAL: A Briefing for Investors : No Extra Juice for Retailer’s Shares

Circuit City Stores Inc. said Tuesday that it expects its fiscal second-quarter earnings to beat estimates, but investors were hardly electrified. Shares of the consumer-electronics retailer closed unchanged at $37.75 on the NYSE after the company told of record sales for August and for the full quarter in its announcement.

The Richmond, Va.-based retailer said its CarMax Group, which sells new and used cars, also had strong sales for August and the quarter and that its earnings will top expectations as well.

However, monthly sales growth in Circuit City stores open at least a year was the lowest since August 1998, said analyst Mark Mandel at ABN Amro in New York. And No. 2 Circuit City continues to be dragged down by low expectations for industry leader Best Buy Co., whose shares fell for a third day on concern that its sales growth is losing steam, he said.

Best Buy stock skidded $3.06 on Tuesday to close at $55.94 on the NYSE after Salmon Smith Barney analyst David Strasser downgraded it to “neutral” from “buy.” Both companies’ stocks have tumbled in the last two weeks, though they are still more than twice as high as they were a year ago.

Best Buy shares have been dropping since a quarterly sales report disappointed investors, who had been hoping to see more robust sales and profit growth. The shares have plunged more than 22% in the last week, though they’re still up more than 80% this year.

Best Buy, which is scheduled to announce earnings Tuesday, has indicated it will meet analysts’ forecast of 26 cents a share.

CarMax, which is set to report earnings Sept. 16 along with Circuit City, expects to make 3 cents a share for the latest quarter, contrasted with a loss of 3 cents for the quarter a year ago.

CarMax shares, which trade separately on the NYSE, appeared to get a lift from the announcement--the stock rose 31 cents to close at $3.69.