Best Buy net income increases 52%

U.S. consumer electronics leader Best Buy Co. reported a better-than-expected 52% jump in fiscal third-quarter profit Tuesday on strong sales of laptops and video games and raised its full-year earnings forecast.

Its stock fell nearly 5% early in the session after the retailer said current-quarter results would be pressured by calendar changes, but it recovered to close up 48 cents at $51.62.

Profit rose to $228 million, or 53 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 1 from $150 million, or 31 cents, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected 41 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue increased 17% to $9.9 billion, topping the $9.4 billion that analysts had expected.

Minneapolis-based Best Buy said sales were helped by a calendar shift that added an extra week after the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Best Buy now expects full-year earnings of $3.10 to $3.20 a share, up from a September forecast of $3 to $3.15.