Q3 2026 Best Buy Co Inc Earnings Call

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Corie Barry: Trying to understand maybe how much of the neutral operating margin impact for this business is being constrained by elevated investments this year. Thanks so much. Yeah, thanks. We're not obviously going to guide next year, but I do think it relates to how we're thinking about next year at a high level. We're clearly seeing some sales momentum this year, and we would hope to be able to continue to drive some continued momentum on the sales side as we get into next year. Obviously, higher sales helps from a rate leverage perspective. It is likely true that as we get into next year, for some of our initiatives, we're going to need to continue to invest in both the marketplace and the ads business, exactly how much and how much flows through.

Matt Bilunas: Yeah, thanks. We're not obviously going to guide next year, but I do think it relates to how we're thinking about next year at a high level. We're clearly seeing some sales momentum this year, and we would hope to be able to continue to drive some continued momentum on the sales side as we get into next year. Obviously, higher sales helps from a rate leverage perspective. It is likely true that as we get into next year, for some of our initiatives, we're going to need to continue to invest in both the marketplace and the ads business, exactly how much and how much flows through.

As a reminder, this call is being recorded for playback and will be available by approximately one o'clock P. M eastern time today.

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I will now turn the conference call over to Mollie O'brien head of Investor Relations.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call today are Corie, Barry our CEO, Matt <unk>, our chief financial and strategy Officer, and Jason Bond Fig, our chief customer product and fulfillment officer.

During the call today, we will be discussing both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and an explanation of why these non-GAAP financial measures are useful can be found in this morning's earnings release, which is available on our website investors bestbuy dot com.

Corie Barry: Still haven't completed the math on that quite yet, but that is something we want to do because over the long period of time, it's going to help us drive more rates and fuel our other parts of our business over the long term. We think that's a good trade-off. Exactly how much that looks next year is hard to say, but we do think it's an accretive thing for us over the one to three to five-year period. Thank you. Best of luck. Thank you. Thank you. The next question comes from Seth Sigman with Barclays. Your line is open. Hey, good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask about SG&A. You were able to manage that down quite a bit this quarter despite the best sales growth in more than four years. Just curious, was there anything unique this quarter?

Still haven't completed the math on that quite yet, but that is something we want to do because over the long period of time, it's going to help us drive more rates and fuel our other parts of our business over the long term. We think that's a good trade-off. Exactly how much that looks next year is hard to say, but we do think it's an accretive thing for us over the one to three to five-year period.

Some of the statements we will make today are considered forward looking within the meaning of the private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Jonathan Matuszewski: Thank you. Best of luck.

Matt Bilunas: Thank you.

Corie Barry: Thank you.

Operator: The next question comes from Seth Sigman with Barclays. Your line is open.

These statements May address the financial condition business initiatives growth plans investments and expected performance of the company.

Seth Sigman: Hey, good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask about SG&A. You were able to manage that down quite a bit this quarter despite the best sales growth in more than four years. Just curious, was there anything unique this quarter? If you could unpack that, that would be helpful. I'm just curious, does SG&A need to come back more? As you think about a scenario where comps remain positive, what does the normal operating leverage in the business look like?

Subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward looking statements.

Please refer to the company's current earnings release, and our most recent Form 10-K, and subsequent Form 10-Qs for more information on these risks and uncertainties. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise. After the date of this call.

Corie Barry: If you could unpack that, that would be helpful. I'm just curious, does SG&A need to come back more? As you think about a scenario where comps remain positive, what does the normal operating leverage in the business look like? Yeah. I mean, for Q3, I think we did see a rate favorability on the SG&A side. A lot of that came from the higher-than-expected sales expectations, and higher sales year over year. We did see a combination of a few things coming better than we expected, like lower technology spend, a little bit lower labor spend in the quarter. We also had a few smaller settlements that also helped us in the quarter as well. None of them were dramatic, but a lot of that SG&A favorability on the rate is just coming from the leverage we get on the sales in terms of our performance.

Matt Bilunas: Yeah. I mean, for Q3, I think we did see a rate favorability on the SG&A side. A lot of that came from the higher-than-expected sales expectations, and higher sales year over year. We did see a combination of a few things coming better than we expected, like lower technology spend, a little bit lower labor spend in the quarter. We also had a few smaller settlements that also helped us in the quarter as well. None of them were dramatic, but a lot of that SG&A favorability on the rate is just coming from the leverage we get on the sales in terms of our performance.

And now I will turn the call over to Corey.

Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining US today, we are very pleased to report strong results for the third quarter on revenue of $9 $7 billion. We delivered an adjusted operating income rate of 4% and increased our adjusted earnings per share of 11% year over year to $1 40.

We delivered better than expected comparable sales growth of two 7% or better than expected profitability was due to the higher revenue and lower than expected SG&A expenses.

Corie Barry: As we get into next year, again, not guiding, but there's places where we obviously always have a little bit of inflation as we go year to year in terms of wages and whatnot. We'll factor those in. There's some places where we feel like we're going to need to continue to invest to drive long-term growth. We just talked about a couple of marketplaces in the ads business. That would be our goal, to be able to drive sales over the long term and get rate leverage as we grow that sales. Exactly how much, like I said, we're still doing the math on that next year. We have been really good about finding operational efficiencies and cost reductions to kind of help offset the pressures that we have. We've been doing that for years.

As we get into next year, again, not guiding, but there's places where we obviously always have a little bit of inflation as we go year to year in terms of wages and whatnot. We'll factor those in. There's some places where we feel like we're going to need to continue to invest to drive long-term growth. We just talked about a couple of marketplaces in the ads business. That would be our goal, to be able to drive sales over the long term and get rate leverage as we grow that sales. Exactly how much, like I said, we're still doing the math on that next year. We have been really good about finding operational efficiencies and cost reductions to kind of help offset the pressures that we have. We've been doing that for years.

We continued to drive strong sales performance across computing gaming and mobile phones. We also saw growth in other categories, including Wearables and headphones. This growth was partially offset by declines in the home theater appliance and drone categories.

In computing, we delivered our seventh consecutive quarter of positive comps with sales growth coming from across the assortment and price points.

This is due to continued momentum driven by customers' need to replace and upgrade products combined with our unique blend of broad assortment and expert advice service and support.

We were there for students and their families no matter their budget and we're pleased with our back to school sales performance. We were also focused on helping customers get what they needed to transition to windows 11, as Microsoft and its support for the Windows 10 operating system mid October.

Corie Barry: We would continue to expect to be able to do that. We've talked a lot about those places in the past where we're using kind of a new data-driven sourcing around our supply chain. We have a primary relationship with FedEx as a partial carrier. We've talked about the automated guided vehicles in our warehouses, which we continue to test and roll out. There are just a lot of efficiencies through technology and analytics that we can help with our partners, drive more efficiencies around customer support and capabilities, and just future AI opportunities as it relates to a lot of our business areas overall. There are places for us to kind of offset some of those pressures that do come every year, like we've been doing.

We would continue to expect to be able to do that. We've talked a lot about those places in the past where we're using kind of a new data-driven sourcing around our supply chain. We have a primary relationship with FedEx as a partial carrier. We've talked about the automated guided vehicles in our warehouses, which we continue to test and roll out. There are just a lot of efficiencies through technology and analytics that we can help with our partners, drive more efficiencies around customer support and capabilities, and just future AI opportunities as it relates to a lot of our business areas overall. There are places for us to kind of offset some of those pressures that do come every year, like we've been doing.

This contributed to our comparable sales performance evidenced by strong windows based sales overall, and almost 30% year over year growth in desktop computers.

In gaming, we continue to see strong demand for them intend to switch two as expected the growth rate slowed from the more material Q2 launch timeframe.

We also continued to see healthy demand for handheld gaming and augmented reality glasses.

Corie Barry: We feel like over the long term, that would be our intent, to try to drive more profitability in our business as we grow the sales. Thank you for that. That's helpful. Obviously, great to see comps positive, but I want to ask about the categories that are not performing as well. What needs to happen for the CE category and the appliance category to get back to growth? Thanks for the question. The appliance category is probably the most difficult one that we have in the market today. The vast majority of the appliance market is duress customers, meaning that they're replacing a product that is broken in some way. We're also seeing a very high amount of single-unit purchases, meaning a washer breaks, they're not replacing the washer and dryer pair.

We feel like over the long term, that would be our intent, to try to drive more profitability in our business as we grow the sales.

In mobile phones, we leveraged our expanded partnerships and in store operating model improvements with the largest carriers to drive strong sales growth across phones.

Seth Sigman: Thank you for that. That's helpful. Obviously, great to see comps positive, but I want to ask about the categories that are not performing as well. What needs to happen for the CE category and the appliance category to get back to growth?

Our Q3 enterprise comparable sales were driven by growth across both our online assets and our stores.

Online sales were up for the fourth consecutive quarter due to higher traffic and increased customer adoption of our highly rated app.

Jason Bonfig: Thanks for the question. The appliance category is probably the most difficult one that we have in the market today. The vast majority of the appliance market is duress customers, meaning that they're replacing a product that is broken in some way. We're also seeing a very high amount of single-unit purchases, meaning a washer breaks, they're not replacing the washer and dryer pair.

We also drove our fastest shipping fulfillment speed ever coupled with our highest on time rate for third quarter.

According to our five star surveys our store customer experience ratings for product availability store appearance and associate availability all improved year over year.

We were also pleased to see continued year over year growth in our overall relationship net promoter score, reflecting improved customer perception on all relationship attributes with the largest gain.

Corie Barry: They're just replacing the washer, which is just very different than what generally happens in the market. That is a very high percentage in total, which means that promos are not as effective as they are in total because you're dealing with a fixed customer base. We also don't have a pro business. Really, our sweet spot is primarily premium and packages in historic years. Really, what we have to do is shift our model a little bit. We're looking at increasing our labor coverage in the department, also looking at focusing on delivery, and speed of delivery in particular, which is critical in a duress market.

They're just replacing the washer, which is just very different than what generally happens in the market. That is a very high percentage in total, which means that promos are not as effective as they are in total because you're dealing with a fixed customer base. We also don't have a pro business. Really, our sweet spot is primarily premium and packages in historic years. Really, what we have to do is shift our model a little bit. We're looking at increasing our labor coverage in the department, also looking at focusing on delivery, and speed of delivery in particular, which is critical in a duress market.

And meeting Mitek needs for the second straight quarter.

For the most part customer shopping behavior in Q3 did not change materially from the commentary we have shared for the past several quarters come.

Customers remain resilient, but deal focused and attracted to more predictable sales moments, including our back to school sales events and our tech Tober sales held close in close proximity to the October Prime day ever.

September which was relatively quiet outside of the labor day sales event had the slowest growth of the quarter importantly, while customers continue to be thoughtful about big ticket purchases in the current environment. They are willing to spend on high price point products, when they need to or when there is technology innovation.

Corie Barry: Also looking at even having opportunities in some of our stores for a customer to be able to take the product with them that day, which is also something that is emphasized more in the market that we're in. Looking to adjust our model until it flips back a little bit more towards our sweet spot, which is, again, that premium and packages, but we really need to meet the customer where they're at in a very duress market. Hopefully, as housing and different things change, then the market starts to swing back to something that might be a little bit more normal. On the TV side, I would just make a couple of comments there. Our revenue performance did improve sequentially, even though it was still down year over year.

Also looking at even having opportunities in some of our stores for a customer to be able to take the product with them that day, which is also something that is emphasized more in the market that we're in. Looking to adjust our model until it flips back a little bit more towards our sweet spot, which is, again, that premium and packages, but we really need to meet the customer where they're at in a very duress market. Hopefully, as housing and different things change, then the market starts to swing back to something that might be a little bit more normal.

To summarize our Q3 performance we are flexing the unique strengths of our model as customers need to upgrade or replace their CE and new products are coming to market.

Corie Barry: On the TV side, I would just make a couple of comments there. Our revenue performance did improve sequentially, even though it was still down year over year.

Want to thank our amazing employees for their dedication to our customers and their strong execution and delivering these Q3 results and setting us up well for an exciting holiday quarter.

Corie Barry: What's interesting is that our unit performance really accelerated and moved to slight growth in the quarter. You can see some of the industry-wide ASP compression there, which we've talked about. Our share trends have improved materially on the unit side, and we believe that we're up slightly year over year on TV. A lot of that is because we have invested in some of the things that we've been talking about, the sharp pricing, the increased marketing, that expanded specialty labor, and those expanded merchandising experiences in the stores with TCL, Hisense, and LG, and then augmenting that with the expanded services offerings and working on how that experience works digitally.

What's interesting is that our unit performance really accelerated and moved to slight growth in the quarter. You can see some of the industry-wide ASP compression there, which we've talked about. Our share trends have improved materially on the unit side, and we believe that we're up slightly year over year on TV. A lot of that is because we have invested in some of the things that we've been talking about, the sharp pricing, the increased marketing, that expanded specialty labor, and those expanded merchandising experiences in the stores with TCL, Hisense, and LG, and then augmenting that with the expanded services offerings and working on how that experience works digitally.

I would like to provide a few updates on the progress we are making on our fiscal 'twenty six strategy. As a reminder, our strategy is to continue to strengthen our position in retail as a leading omnichannel destination for technology, while at the same time building and scaling new profit streams that we believe will drive returns in the future.

Our first fiscal 'twenty six strategic priority is to drive omnichannel experiences that resonate with our customers.

Last quarter, we provided multiple examples of store refreshes and upgrades planned for the back half of the year many of which were in partnership with our vendors are few updates.

We launched the latest AI glasses from meta across all stores in more than 50 locations. We now have immersive showcase areas staffed by meta experts to help customers discover and try the technology hands on the strong customer demand for in person demos continues to outpace available appointments.

Corie Barry: All of that, I think the team is doing a great job putting together a more fulsome assortment and even more price point options for our customers, which is at least moving that business in the right trajectory. Great. Thank you for that. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Happy holidays. The next question comes from Christopher Horvers with JP Morgan. Your line is open. Thanks. Good morning. My first question, I'm going to try to go at the marketplace and the ads margin and accretion a little bit differently. I know others have asked. Can you talk about what you're seeing in terms of the benefit of both businesses to the gross margin line in the second half? As you think about in 2026, one would expect the revenue growth there to accelerate.

All of that, I think the team is doing a great job putting together a more fulsome assortment and even more price point options for our customers, which is at least moving that business in the right trajectory.

Seth Sigman: Great. Thank you for that. Happy holidays.

Jason Bonfig: Happy holidays.

Corie Barry: Happy holidays.

Operator: The next question comes from Christopher Horvers with JP Morgan. Your line is open.

We introduced new experiences with Revel in sharp Ninja that feature expanded assortments for at-home, Baristas and shocks and innovative health and beauty solutions very early reads are positive and we are excited to monitor customer response during the holidays as many of these new experiences will be staffed with expert sales associates to bring this innovation to life.

Christopher Horvers: Thanks. Good morning. My first question, I'm going to try to go at the marketplace and the ads margin and accretion a little bit differently. I know others have asked. Can you talk about what you're seeing in terms of the benefit of both businesses to the gross margin line in the second half? As you think about in 2026, one would expect the revenue growth there to accelerate. Is it your expectation that as the business scales, the margin rate of those businesses also accelerate? I think on our side, we think about that as strong double-digit margin rates for both businesses.

For our customers.

We expanded the merchandising areas featuring Tvs from Tcl, <unk>, and LG, which are staffed by dedicated experts to address questions and help customers get what they need.

These were not all lives for the whole quarter, but very early reads are showing positive results in.

Corie Barry: Is it your expectation that as the business scales, the margin rate of those businesses also accelerate? I think on our side, we think about that as strong double-digit margin rates for both businesses. Yeah. I'll break down a little bit for both the different parts of the P&L here. First, if I think about gross profit rate for both ads and marketplace, they have both helped the gross profit rate in the back half of this year. Obviously, on the marketplace side, we're scaling that business. If you think about the rate, it's helpful there. As we get into next year, we would continue to expect the marketplace to scale. We're clearly going to lap the launch in midway through next year, which might have an impact.

And earlier this month, we implemented most of the new Ikea pilots, we announced last quarter.

These 1000 square foot areas are staffed by Ikea coworkers and showcase kitchen, and laundry room settings from Ikea and appliances from bestbuy.

Matt Bilunas: Yeah. I'll break down a little bit for both the different parts of the P&L here. First, if I think about gross profit rate for both ads and marketplace, they have both helped the gross profit rate in the back half of this year. Obviously, on the marketplace side, we're scaling that business. If you think about the rate, it's helpful there. As we get into next year, we would continue to expect the marketplace to scale. We're clearly going to lap the launch in midway through next year, which might have an impact.

While they are only 10 pilot locations. This is the first time Ikea products and services are available through another U S retailer, creating innovative ways for both of us to meet customer needs in a changing environment.

We continue to drive the digital experience forward as well usage of our App is growing every quarter, which helps us recognize more customers as they shop with us and gives us the opportunity to provide better personalization and product recommendations in.

In addition to launching our marketplace, we continue to make online customer enhancements a few specific examples.

Corie Barry: Generally speaking, the more you grow it, the more GMV, the more net commissions should be helpful to the gross margin rate. Not exactly linear every quarter, depending on the scaling and when we lap. On the ad side, from a gross profit rate perspective, again, we're continuing to explore and expand into new parts of the ads business. To the extent that we are successful in driving incremental revenue and profitability from that, which we're planning to do, that would also be helpful to the gross profit rate into the future. Now, exactly how much and how it laps every quarter might not be exactly the same, but those would be the intent.

Generally speaking, the more you grow it, the more GMV, the more net commissions should be helpful to the gross margin rate. Not exactly linear every quarter, depending on the scaling and when we lap. On the ad side, from a gross profit rate perspective, again, we're continuing to explore and expand into new parts of the ads business. To the extent that we are successful in driving incremental revenue and profitability from that, which we're planning to do, that would also be helpful to the gross profit rate into the future. Now, exactly how much and how it laps every quarter might not be exactly the same, but those would be the intent.

We improve the online TV shopping experienced by both lowering the price for our delivery and installation services and improving the digital flow to make it even easier for customers to add the services to their online television purchase.

For shippable products across categories customers in all our markets can now pick a two hour window for delivery up to seven days out.

This capability was only available in about a third of our markets last year. This is a great option for customers, especially those who may want more security around their high price point purchases.

As always we have a relentless focus on the employee experience and being the best place to work, which is driving engagement historically low turnover and healthy applicant pools. This in turn allows us to provide our customers. The expert service that best buy is known for across stores online and in homes.

Corie Barry: On the OI rate side, I think it's going to come down to, as we talked a little bit earlier, how much do we feel like we need to invest, and what the opportunity for that investment in return looks like. As we get into next year, that's something we're still evaluating in terms of the technology, the people, and other things that we might need to drive those two initiatives. We think those are the right decisions overall, over time, for us to drive more rate opportunities from those two initiatives. Exactly how much flows through to OI, we're not quite ready to commit to at this point, but we do believe it's a good return for us. Chris, the last thing that I would add, and I know you know this, but I feel compelled.

On the OI rate side, I think it's going to come down to, as we talked a little bit earlier, how much do we feel like we need to invest, and what the opportunity for that investment in return looks like. As we get into next year, that's something we're still evaluating in terms of the technology, the people, and other things that we might need to drive those two initiatives. We think those are the right decisions overall, over time, for us to drive more rate opportunities from those two initiatives. Exactly how much flows through to OI, we're not quite ready to commit to at this point, but we do believe it's a good return for us.

On top of that our vendors have grown their investment in our specialized labor program to augment our staff. We continue to expect vendor labor investment to be approximately 20% higher than last year in the second half of the year.

Our second strategic priority for fiscal 'twenty is focused on incremental profitability stream we.

We are excited about our new best buy marketplace. We are about three months into the launch and have more than 1000 sellers and 11 times more skus available online for customers than we did before.

Corie Barry: Chris, the last thing that I would add, and I know you know this, but I feel compelled. Our goal here is really to stay more relevant with the customer. Our goal is to drive more units, to be there more often in consideration, and to make sure that we are leveraging like partnerships. We mentioned a few on the call to stay relevant with that consumer who has so many choices. That part, we're starting to see early green shoots on. That becomes really the flywheel that we've been talking about that helps feed all parts of the business. That's as much what we're focused on building and expanding next year as anything.

Corie Barry: Our goal here is really to stay more relevant with the customer. Our goal is to drive more units, to be there more often in consideration, and to make sure that we are leveraging like partnerships. We mentioned a few on the call to stay relevant with that consumer who has so many choices. That part, we're starting to see early green shoots on. That becomes really the flywheel that we've been talking about that helps feed all parts of the business. That's as much what we're focused on building and expanding next year as anything. Got it. How are you planning the holiday? You mentioned a largely similar promotional calendar in an event-driven consumer, but November was tough last year, and you had a government shutdown to start the month.

Now we have more tech options than ever for our customers both from big names like Samsung Dell, HP, and Intel and new vendors that help us level up our tech assortment across categories.

We also have hundreds of new brands and new categories like license sporting goods seasonal decor and much more.

For our sellers our marketplace provides an additional avenue to increase their reach and build their brands leveraging our qualified traffic I will share some early results and learnings.

Christopher Horvers: Got it. How are you planning the holiday? You mentioned a largely similar promotional calendar in an event-driven consumer, but November was tough last year, and you had a government shutdown to start the month. As we look at monthly, two-year trends are all over the place, but the business is bending upward. Can you talk about what you're seeing here in November, if there was any impact early in the month on the shutdown, and how you're thinking about the cadence over the quarter given the comparison dynamics last year? Thanks so much.

As expected and an important goal of marketplace. We are seeing high unit sales in categories like accessories and small appliances.

The five star customer reviews for <unk> experiences are similar to those we see for our first party business.

Corie Barry: As we look at monthly, two-year trends are all over the place, but the business is bending upward. Can you talk about what you're seeing here in November, if there was any impact early in the month on the shutdown, and how you're thinking about the cadence over the quarter given the comparison dynamics last year? Thanks so much. Yeah. I mean, as we start Q4, we are lapping strong sales last year. As we noted on the call last year, we were running at about 5% growth for the first three weeks of November. I'm not sure how much the government shutdown—we haven't done the math on specifically the government shutdown. It probably doesn't help. Certain jobs, obviously, are more impacted than others. We are comping a pretty larger amount of growth through the first three weeks of November.

Customer return rates for marketplace items have been running lower than our first party return rates and for customers, who do have a return.

They are taking advantage of the convenient return to store option for more than 80% of product returns.

Marketplace ramped through Q3 in terms of sellers skus traffic conversion rate and sales.

Matt Bilunas: Yeah. I mean, as we start Q4, we are lapping strong sales last year. As we noted on the call last year, we were running at about 5% growth for the first three weeks of November. I'm not sure how much the government shutdown—we haven't done the math on specifically the government shutdown. It probably doesn't help. Certain jobs, obviously, are more impacted than others. We are comping a pretty larger amount of growth through the first three weeks of November.

We expect to continue to ramp through Q4.

Our marketplace results had a positive impact on our Q3 gross profit rate and we expect it to positively impact our Q4 gross profit rate as well and it is already providing opportunities for best buy ads through new advertisers.

Speaking of best buy ads during the quarter, we hosted our first ever client showcase in September called we got next it's spotlighted, our scale performance and innovation to key decision makers across agencies brands partners and press. We were encouraged by the reception advertisers are particularly excited about our new in store.

Corie Barry: The shape of the quarter is likely going to be a little bit different this year compared to last year. November was up 4% last year. December was down 2%. As we get into December, the compares get a little easier. We are seeing people gravitate towards those big events that, obviously, this week and as the weeks before Christmas are the biggest events in the holidays. We do feel like there's an opportunity there for us. Still feel like there's an opportunity for us to grow our sales. The shape will look a little different, even though the timing is pretty similar to how we saw it last year. Thank you. Your next question comes from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets. Your line is open. Good morning, and thanks for squeezing me in.

The shape of the quarter is likely going to be a little bit different this year compared to last year. November was up 4% last year. December was down 2%. As we get into December, the compares get a little easier. We are seeing people gravitate towards those big events that, obviously, this week and as the weeks before Christmas are the biggest events in the holidays. We do feel like there's an opportunity there for us. Still feel like there's an opportunity for us to grow our sales. The shape will look a little different, even though the timing is pretty similar to how we saw it last year.

Takeover product unique to best buy this high impact program features both large format signage across the store.

And screens across the TV wall and computer monitors it begins running in January with meta and ESPN.

We continue to invest in strengthening and advancing the technology platform, we need to capitalize on the opportunity we see ahead.

Christopher Horvers: Thank you.

Operator: Your next question comes from Anthony Chukumba with Loop Capital Markets. Your line is open.

During the quarter, we launched our self serve platform my ads, which is particularly important for our new marketplace sellers.

Also enabled onsite programmatic buying augmented our reporting capabilities and expanded our onsite add supply.

Anthony Chukumba: Good morning, and thanks for squeezing me in. I know this is always kind of tough because of all the different product categories that you're in. How do you feel just at a high level in terms of the market share? I mean, particularly given the fact that your sales have accelerated and you did have the best comps in several years. How do you think about that at a high level?

Corie Barry: I know this is always kind of tough because of all the different product categories that you're in. How do you feel just at a high level in terms of the market share? I mean, particularly given the fact that your sales have accelerated and you did have the best comps in several years. How do you think about that at a high level? I appreciate where you started, Anthony, which is it is really difficult in this industry. There just isn't a single source of share information, and there are multiple cuts. That being said, when we try to pull and triangulate all the data sources, we believe we have improved our share position over the last two quarters. In Q3, we estimate that our share was flattish to slightly up.

We are successfully expanding into new opportunity areas like agencies and demand side platforms or DSP. We are also gaining traction in non endemic categories with several partners testing the platform and different differentiated ways financial services is emerging as a standout vertical with Paypal corner and cap one shopping.

Corie Barry: I appreciate where you started, Anthony, which is it is really difficult in this industry. There just isn't a single source of share information, and there are multiple cuts. That being said, when we try to pull and triangulate all the data sources, we believe we have improved our share position over the last two quarters. In Q3, we estimate that our share was flattish to slightly up.

All activating campaigns.

Other new non endemic categories include quick serve restaurants and sports Entertainment.

Our retail media network is already highly profitable and our Q3 growth in AD collections had a positive impact on our gross profit rate and we expect it to positively impact our Q4 gross profit rate as well.

Corie Barry: Obviously, we've always said share is a long game conversation for us, and all the initiatives that we're talking about are driving toward more of the sustainability to, at the highest level, drive shares. In that, you're going to constantly be making trade-off promotion decisions, trade-off pricing decisions. We feel like we're strong right now, particularly in computing and gaming. I talked about our TV unit share position, which now we feel like is airing on the positive side. There's a lot of these kind of newer categories or the expanded assortment that we're seeing marketplace that is bolstering our point of view about how we feel like we're sitting for share. Again, always a conversation, longer game, but feel like the trajectory is headed the direction that we want. Got it. That's helpful context.

Obviously, we've always said share is a long game conversation for us, and all the initiatives that we're talking about are driving toward more of the sustainability to, at the highest level, drive shares. In that, you're going to constantly be making trade-off promotion decisions, trade-off pricing decisions. We feel like we're strong right now, particularly in computing and gaming. I talked about our TV unit share position, which now we feel like is airing on the positive side. There's a lot of these kind of newer categories or the expanded assortment that we're seeing marketplace that is bolstering our point of view about how we feel like we're sitting for share. Again, always a conversation, longer game, but feel like the trajectory is headed the direction that we want.

We expect a neutral impact on this year's operating income rate compared to last year due to the investments, we're making in technology and talent.

This brings us to our third strategic priority for fiscal 'twenty, six which is a long standing strategic imperative driving efficiencies and identifying cost reductions are crucial to help fund investment capacity for new and existing initiatives and offset pressures in our business.

There are many ways, we realize these efficiencies with.

<unk> analytics through ongoing vendor partnerships and vendor selection throughout the enterprise and by modifying existing processes our customer offerings.

And our customer support capability, we are leveraging AI to streamline interactions and provide new experiences that empower customers with more self serve content and options. As a result, we drove a 17% decline in the number of customer contacts in Q3 and improved our customer experience scores.

Anthony Chukumba: Got it. That's helpful context. Just real quickly on the Switch 2, obviously, that's been selling quite well, and Nintendo just hiked their unit estimate for their fiscal year. How have you felt about your Switch 2 allocations relative to your initial expectations? I know you historically have over-indexed on Nintendo products, particularly relative to PlayStation and Xbox, but just love your thoughts in terms of how you feel you guys are doing from an allocation perspective. Thank you.

Corie Barry: Just real quickly on the Switch 2, obviously, that's been selling quite well, and Nintendo just hiked their unit estimate for their fiscal year. How have you felt about your Switch 2 allocations relative to your initial expectations? I know you historically have over-indexed on Nintendo products, particularly relative to PlayStation and Xbox, but just love your thoughts in terms of how you feel you guys are doing from an allocation perspective. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for the question. We've actually been very happy with Switch 2. Obviously, the launch was outstanding. It drove growth last quarter, and we do expect gaming to continue to grow as we lead into Q4. It's been highly publicized that the amount of Switch 2 units in the market is a lot higher than what Switch 1 was in the same timeframe.

By leveraging our new data driven sourcing solution to choose the most efficient location to fulfill more than 70% of our online orders, we are seeing faster delivery times that our on time delivery and lower costs.

Forward, we will continue to use AI augmented optimization across multiple areas of our business from scam detection to customer support to personalized email marketing and we are increasingly using AI for product search product recommendations and enriching product content as well as expanding into conversational AI and agenda.

Jason Bonfig: Yeah. Thank you for the question. We've actually been very happy with Switch 2. Obviously, the launch was outstanding. It drove growth last quarter, and we do expect gaming to continue to grow as we lead into Q4. It's been highly publicized that the amount of Switch 2 units in the market is a lot higher than what Switch 1 was in the same timeframe.

Commerce.

We have officially kicked off the holiday season, we feel well positioned with compelling deals on hot products strong marketing and competitive fulfillment options.

Corie Barry: We have actually been happy with the ability to come closer to meeting customer demand. We do think demand over holiday will continue to still be very strong. In gaming in general, it's not just Switch. There are other aspects of that business that are driving growth. We're just seeing handheld in general, whether it be the new product from ASUS that is a partnership with them on Xbox or other products from companies like Lenovo with their Legion Go. Just handheld gaming is a driver across the entire gaming segment. We're really excited that we think we have the best assortment there and can really meet customers' needs across anything they want to do, whether it be Switch all the way up to any aspect of handheld gaming in total.

We have actually been happy with the ability to come closer to meeting customer demand. We do think demand over holiday will continue to still be very strong. In gaming in general, it's not just Switch. There are other aspects of that business that are driving growth. We're just seeing handheld in general, whether it be the new product from ASUS that is a partnership with them on Xbox or other products from companies like Lenovo with their Legion Go.

From a timing perspective, our promotional plans for the most part lineup with last year door Busters dropped every Friday through the holiday and our Black Friday sales started the week before Thanksgiving.

We have something for every budget with deals across a wide range of price points because of our unique position. We can also offer customers great prices for the latest innovation and premium products and assortment that not everyone has.

Just handheld gaming is a driver across the entire gaming segment. We're really excited that we think we have the best assortment there and can really meet customers' needs across anything they want to do, whether it be Switch all the way up to any aspect of handheld gaming in total. That's really making up for some of the slowing sales that you see in just the traditional PS5 and Xbox as those get to the end of their life cycle.

This includes limited quantity hardware games, and toys that drive traffic and excitement to our stores and digital properties through invitation only and other exciting launch events.

Corie Barry: That's really making up for some of the slowing sales that you see in just the traditional PS5 and Xbox as those get to the end of their life cycle. One of the things, Anthony, that's interesting about all the devices that Jason just talked about, these are pretty high price point devices. Especially considering they're gaming, they tend toward kind of a younger cohort. We really like our position here, and we're kind of doubling down both physically and digitally to make sure we offer the best possible experience. I give our teams a ton of credit because part of the reason that we're able to get the kind of allocations we can is because we can deliver these amazing experiences, especially at retail. With that, I think that's our last question. Oh, thanks, Anthony. Appreciate it. I think that's our last question.

We expect gaming to be a hot holiday gift category with products like the Nintendo switch to the Acis Rogue Xbox ally handheld gaming system gaming laptops and gaming monitors.

Corie Barry: One of the things, Anthony, that's interesting about all the devices that Jason just talked about, these are pretty high price point devices. Especially considering they're gaming, they tend toward kind of a younger cohort. We really like our position here, and we're kind of doubling down both physically and digitally to make sure we offer the best possible experience. I give our teams a ton of credit because part of the reason that we're able to get the kind of allocations we can is because we can deliver these amazing experiences, especially at retail. With that, I think that's our last question.Oh, thanks, Anthony. Appreciate it. I think that's our last question.Thank you all so much for joining us. We hope you all have a lovely holiday season, and we look forward to speaking with you all at the end of our year.

Other exciting gifts for holiday include AI glasses from Ray ban and Oakley three D printers, OLED Tvs, the new hyper boot buy Nike limited quantity pokemon cards, and Lego toys, and JBL Party box speakers for those looking for gifts that can be used every day. We are great deals on the new remarkable paper pro and copilot plus laptops.

Small appliances like Ninja Flushing machines, and Bravo Barista espresso machines health products like the new or a ring for and much more.

In stores, you can interact with our immersive experiences and demos and get advice from our blue shirts and vendor expert.

Corie Barry: Thank you all so much for joining us. We hope you all have a lovely holiday season, and we look forward to speaking with you all at the end of our year. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

And every year ahead of holiday, we like many vendors hired thousands of seasonal flex employees. This year, we tried something new and brought all the new associates together for a full weekend earlier this month.

Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

The event was a resounding success not only in training new employees on products tools and transacting.

But immersing new team members and the values energy and collaboration that define best buy is culture.

Of course, all the in store product and more are available for customers, who prefer to shop from home, we have our holiday gift ideas page with curated gift list based on interest and a personalized discover page designed to help customers discover new technology.

In addition to great price point, we have our comprehensive trade in program that we will highlight throughout the holiday to help customers more easily get new technology. For example, customers can save up to $1200 by trading in their tablets or up to $1100 trading in their phones.

We also have great no interest programs available on a credit card. In addition to buy now pay later options to help customers complete their holiday shopping list.

We are excited about our holiday marketing campaign that meet people, where they already are across sports streaming and social we're teaming up with more than 200, Influencers and best buy creators as they highlight the tech that's topping there gets less and this year, we are going even deeper with sports we continue to be the official home entertainment retailer of the NFL and our holiday <unk>.

<unk> will have an increase in game presence across NBC Peacock with CBS Fox and Netflix.

We will also have presence on CBS sports dot com and across streaming sports content on ESPN.

In summary, we are pleased with our Q3 financial results and execution, which included improved share position, we expect to deliver sales growth for the year. The high end of our Q4 outlook assumes growth in computing gaming and mobile. It also reflects trend improvements in Tvs driven by a blend of sharp pricing increased marketing.

Specialty labor and improved delivery and install offerings.

Our results demonstrate an important aspect of our thesis our models really shines when there is innovation.

Because we are the trusted source for the latest and greatest new technology, we have a broad range of Assortments and price points for every budget. In addition to unique in store and digital experiences. We also have geek squad services to help our customers.

And we are a true partner to our vendors working with them from early in the product development cycle, all the way to launching products on our sales.

And now I would like to turn the call over to Matt for more details on our Q3 performance and Q4 outlook.

Good morning, let me start with an overview of how the third quarter performed versus expectations, we shared with you last quarter.

<unk> comparable sales growth of two 7% exceeded our outlook of being similar to our second quarter growth of one 6%.

Our adjusted operating income rate of 4% was 30 basis points better than expected, which was largely driven by lower than planned SG&A expense.

I will now talk about our third quarter results versus last year.

Enterprise revenue of $9 7 billion.

Increased two 4% versus last year, our adjusted operating income rate increased 30 basis points compared to last year.

Our adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 11% to $1 40.

By month, our enterprise comparable sales were up approximately 3% in August 1% in September and 5% in October.

Our domestic segment revenue increased two 1% to $8 9 billion.

Driven by comparable sales growth of two 4%.

Our online revenue of $2 8 billion increased three 5% on a comparable basis and represented 31, 8% of our domestic revenue.

Our online comparable sales growth includes the net commission revenue earned from our third party marketplace sellers.

From an organic standpoint, the blended average sales price of our products was approximately flat to last year with a unit growth being the primary driver of our sales growth.

International revenue of $794 million increased six 1% versus last year.

The revenue increase was primarily driven by comparable sales growth of six 3% and revenue from best buy express locations that are not yet included in comparable sales.

The previous items were partially offset by the negative impact from foreign exchange rates.

From a category standpoint, the largest drivers of international comparable sales growth, where computing and mobile phones.

Our domestic gross profit rate decreased by 30 basis points to 23, 3%.

This was primarily due to lower product margin rates, partially offset by rate improvement within the services category.

The lower product margin rates were primarily driven by an unfavorable sales mix and increased personalized promotional offers.

Our international gross profit rate increased 30 basis points to 22, 8%.

The higher gross profit rate was primarily due to favorable supply chain costs.

Moving to SG&A, we are domestic adjusted SG&A decreased $4 million, which included lower best buy health expenses that were largely offset by higher incentive compensation expense.

During the third quarter, we recorded pre tax noncash asset impairments of $192 million related to best buy health, which were excluded from our adjusted results.

Impairments were prompted by a change in best buy health customer base during the quarter and reflect downward revisions in our long term projections in part due to pressures in the Medicaid and Medicare advantage markets.

Year to date, we have returned a total of $802 million to shareholders through dividends of $602 million in share.

Purchases of $200 million for the year, we still expect to spend approximately $300 million on repurchases.

Let me next share color on fourth quarter guidance.

From a topline perspective, we expect our fourth quarter comparable sales to be in the range of down 1% to up 1%.

In addition, our fourth quarter comparable sales outlook for Canada more closely aligns with our expectations for the domestic segment.

On the profitability side, we expect our fourth quarter adjusted operating income rate of four 8% to four 9%, which compares to four 9% last year.

Moving to gross profit, we expect our fourth quarter gross profit rates to decline versus last year due to a lower product margin rates, which was primarily due to increased promotional investments. Other notable drivers that are expected to benefit our gross profit rate include growth from best buy ads, our recently launched online marketplace.

And improved profitability from our services category.

Moving next SG&A with the most notable plan to puts and takes are the following.

Increased SG&A in support of our best buy ads in marketplace initiatives, which include advertising technology and employee compensation expense.

Offsetting these items are lower best buy health and incentive compensation expense.

Lastly, the low end of our guidance reflects our plans to further reduce our variable expenses, including incentive compensation to align with sales trends.

Let me provide more details on our updated full year fiscal 'twenty six guidance, which incorporates the color I just shared on the fourth quarter and is the following.

Revenue in the range of 41, $652 41 $95 billion.

Comparable sales growth of 5% to one 2% adjusted operating income rate of approximately four 2%.

And adjusted effective income tax rate of approximately 25, 4% adjust.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $6 25 to $6 35.

And capital expenditures of approximately $700 million.

Our full year gross profit and SG&A working assumptions are still very similar to what we shared last quarter and some of the key carloads are the following.

We believe our fiscal 2006 gross profit rate will now a decline of approximately 15 basis points compared to last year.

The high end of our guidance continues to reflect incentive compensation that was approximately flat to last year.

As I noted, we now expect our adjusted effective income tax rate to be approximately 25, 4%, which compares to our prior guidance of 25%.

I will now turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Thank you as a reminder to ask a question. Please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question simply press Star one again.

Your first question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, Nice third quarter I wanted to ask about the puts and takes on Q4, it looks like the comp.

<unk> light from what we were expecting standing.

On the second quarter, meaning once you guided in the prior quarter, but a little bit better on profit. So can you talk about I guess theres a lot of scenarios what could.

But how you set up your fourth quarter guide and any difference in thinking from when we talked about it three months ago.

Yes.

Overall, the high end of our Q4 guide from a sales perspective is pretty similar to what we guided the last time, maybe just a little bit lower.

We did lower we did raise the bottom end of that sales guide from something that was implied to down 4% or more maybe more two to the number we talked about here today are down 1%. So.

Feeling good about where sales are effectively similar to where we expected them to be on the August call on the on the EBIT side, we actually.

Slightly lowered the EBIT expectations for what we implied last Q4 closer to 5% so.

Most of that was on the low end we did.

Did have a little bit more rate pressure on the low end, because we have adjusted our revenue expectations and therefore, the incentive compensation change a little bit. So overall at the high end not a very big difference from what we would've implied in the guide on.

On the August call.

Okay, and then the follow up based on the adoption of either switch to or other things and entertainment as well as iPhone. What are the curves look like meaning does does it portend that you have another year's worth of good momentum like there's a lot of demand pent up how do you think about it as you go into fourth.

Quarter and into next year.

Sure I mean I think.

To support the fourth quarter guide, we're still expecting growth on the computing side and mobile phones computing is still going to be fueled by.

The need to replace and upgrade in plus all the ongoing innovation around AI that will continue into Q4 and likely continue into next year as we still see that there are millions of people who have yet to upgrade the wind 10 device and there is further opportunities even on the Max side of the business, who who have an upgrade to the newest chip technology.

About mobile phones is expected to continue to grow as we get into Q4 likely as we get into next year as well. We are seeing continued benefit from the in store improvements with the carriers.

On the entertainment side as you get into Q4 still.

We still expect to see switch help us grow in Q4.

On the other console side that will likely slow as you get into later stages of the replacement cycle of those two other consoles plus theres been some pretty transparent price increases that are obviously probably.

Having a little bit of an impact as you can.

Into next year likely still a little opportunity before we lap the switch to launch midway through the year.

We are expecting to see improved trends on the TV side as we get into into Q4, we have.

Very competitive pricing, we've put more marketing into into the business and with additional labor and just some changes to the service offerings, we feel like thats going to help us improve the trends on the TV side as well we are seeing already some.

Some improvements on the unit exercised units grow a little bit in Q3 on the TV. So that is helpful. Because we have a lot of other initiatives, where the marketplace is that continuing to ramp and scale as we get into Q4. So we feel really great about that especially as we get into the marketplace next year being able to scale, even more along with the ads business.

Great. Thanks, Happy Thanksgiving take care.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Peter Keith with Piper Sandler Your line is open.

Hey, nice quarter, thanks for taking the question.

Like to just follow up Matt on that last response on the Q4 outlook for comps because it does seem like you have quite a bit of momentum coming out of Q3, and some product momentum for the holiday. So so what's driving the <unk> and the overall outlook vis vis Q3.

Yes.

At a high level for Q3 like I said, we're expecting a pretty similar Q4 guide overall from a sales perspective.

Q3 start back in Q3 that did come in a bit better than we expected. We saw a strong back to school period. We saw strong October with October and the early part of the year.

So we are seeing a positive growth as we go into Q4, although the Q4. It did see some growth last year versus Q3, that's a little bit more so saw some sales pressure so the comparisons get a little bit tougher as you get into Q4.

Obviously, the holiday is never easy to predict.

What we do believe is that we have a range of scenarios and the range. We provided gives us a great place to plan and plan our business operationally.

Some of the categories that changed a little bit in terms of sales growth momentum as you get into from Q3 to Q4 gaming we are expecting it to.

To grow overall, but maybe not at the same pace that we saw in Q3 and Q4 Wearables will be another category I would say probably arent going to see the same type of growth that we saw in Q3.

Okay. That's helpful and then.

Another question for Corey on marketplace, how is it going now that it's rolled out do you still expect we will have a positive impact on EBIT this year.

Sure. Some helpful. Kpis are there any challenges not in adult lives.

Kind of give some of the puts and takes that you're seeing on that launch.

Yes, Im incredibly proud of the work the team has done to launch the marketplace in a very Omnichannel way, we mentioned now more than 1000 sellers that we on boarded in a quarter and a 11 times more skus. So right away, we can see customers looking for that broader assortment, we can see them.

Leaning into some of the unit growth that we were looking for in places like accessories, where you can have a much deeper assortment or small appliances appliances, where again you have that ability to have more breadth across what we're doing and we're.

We're really happy with that we did hit a few of those points are on the call that where we're seeing that high unit sales in categories. We're seeing return rates be actually a little bit less than what we're seeing in first party and 80% of those returns coming back to stores, we really like the customer experience metrics, we're seeing and so in general those kind of early indicators.

Really feel healthy and good to us.

But it's still it's really early in the ramp and we want to make sure we give ourselves enough time to create the kind of scale that we're going to see throughout Q4.

But we're excited with the progress that we're making and how quickly we've been able to broaden that assortment how much our customers are leaning into that broader assortment for us.

Yes regarding the Oi rate impact for the year I think we had previously said we thought maybe it would be a little bit of a rate improvement for the enterprise for the year, we're now expecting that to be a bit more neutral nothing super material has changed in our outlook. There has been just a little bit of a different product mix and a little.

Bit slower ramp than we would've had originally modeled so again, we never really expected it to have a really huge impact of the rate this year, but more neutral.

This time for this quarter and the last thing I would say Peter is I think the great part about having this especially as we head into Q4 or is it just really extends the amount of giftable items that we have for our customers and the teams are finding really interesting ways to highlight these new extended assortment. So as you look on our global homepage or as you look at search we're finding new ways to kind of.

The depth of this assortment up so people really realize theres a lot more out there that our customers can find to be the perfect gift giver.

Okay. That's very helpful. Thanks, and good luck with the holiday season.

Thanks Peter.

The next question comes from Joe Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group. Your line is open.

Okay. Thanks, guys.

For taking the question so.

I wanted to.

That's on the.

The loyalty program and just if you could share some more details on how that's been performing.

It seems like it's been a good driver for much of the year I don't recall hearing too much. This morning on it. So I was just curious if you could share some thoughts.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, our membership program remains a really important part of our customer experience and the way in which we engage with our customers.

We have more than 100 million members across our three tier is obviously the free my best buy membership as the one that has the greatest reach but on the paid membership side, which is best buy Plas and best buy total we ended the year with nearly 8 million paid members and that was up from 7 million the year before and what our focus is right now is how can we continue.

To drive real value and unique offers for those members and so one of the things that we have found to be really working well for us.

The strategic use of some very personalized promotions and it's where we can use the breadth of our data to really try to reengage, maybe some of those customers who havent been engaged with us. So you can use this data we have about our customers plus these signals, we're seeing from customers in the way that they're shopping and really target them carefully with offers which we're finding as a very unique way.

For us to Reengage, those customers, who maybe would have lapsed or wouldn't have been shopping with us this holiday season.

Another piece that we tried and we have talked about.

Deep discount on the NFL Sunday ticket for plus in total members somewhere that idea of because you remember with US are there other ancillary, especially services and subscriptions that might really resonate and we're going to continue to test and try and build on those learnings across our membership the goal no matter what is consistent we want to drive engagement, we want to increase.

The share of wallet and we want to use this as another tool that helps us fuel our ads business and so I think the evolutions that youll continue to see from here will all be based in continuing to fulfill that goal for our customers.

That's great. Thank you and then just maybe shifting gears a little bit in my.

Clearly, but I did want to ask about how are you thinking about stores and store investment for the coming year, you've done a lot of things to keep you.

Tweaking the model and trying different things inside the stores and I'm just curious how are you.

Your initial thoughts for next year would look.

I'm going to start where I always start which is our stores are incredibly crucial assets. They provide not only differentiated experiences not only differentiated services, but also amazing multichannel fulfillment options. We still are running at 46% in store pick up no matter what all of the advancements that we've made in terms of shipping SEDAR. So.

This is a really important asset base for us and we've been very consistent and this is this is true for this year and it will bleed into next year. Our focus right now is on great store look and feel and so a lot of our capital investments. This year have been about ensuring that we're really investing in that look and feel we listed a number of the ways, we're doing that both ourselves and in partnership with our vendors.

And that will continue as we think into next year as we continue to refresh and make sure that we feel like our store updates reflect those great immersive experience in places like AAR in gaming and Tvs small appliances. Many of the categories that we've talked about including the experiences that we're driving in mobile in partnership with them.

All of our vendors.

We do have some cohort of stores, where they're a little bit larger than what we need and so we've been working on several different ways and this again will move into next year, including relocations resizing some of the existing formats now we're looking at some of the new and more innovative ways, where maybe we can consolidate the space and bring in partners like the Ikea pilot.

A great example of that but you can imagine there is a multitude of partners who might be interested in having some of that shop in shop space and then finally, we've talked about some of the smaller format stores. We now have three new small format stores open testing kind of a couple of different concepts. One is somewhere like Bozeman, where maybe we can enter a market we wouldn't other.

Enter in other areas, it's closing a larger store in opening a small and we like what we're seeing in those small format stores and I would expect us to lean into those a bit as we head into next year as well. So I think all in all what we're really focused on is making sure that if someone makes the trip to the store and here's a fascinating small data point when we look at our demographics.

Interesting our youngest cohort Gen Z is really leaning into the store experience, we can see it in their visits and we can see it and where they choose to interact and we can see it in our ability to start to grow share with this cohort and if the court who is starting to see our brand as updated refresh and more relevant. So this I think.

The idea of leaning in here, both ourselves and with our vendor partners augmenting maybe with a fewer smaller locations I think thats, what youre going to see us focus on as we head forward.

That's great. Thank you guys and happy Thanksgiving and good luck with the fourth quarter.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Greg Melick with Evercore. Your line is open.

Hi, Thanks.

Two questions first on tariffs because it could you just update us on.

How much of that do you think is actually flown flow through it's on the shelf.

<unk> at this point or is it all in the numbers now or the base.

Yeah overall.

Like we talked about unprepared prepared remarks, our asps at an enterprise level, essentially pretty flat year over year and most of the growth is coming the growth is coming from the unit side of the business.

So that would that would infer that all of the tariff changes that we would've made on select portions of our assortment would be flowing through in the price again that those any tariff increases we would've had were only on small portions of the assortment overall the effect of territory.

<unk> is probably still in the mid teens, if you will but that is not what the actual price increases on those portions of assortments that the.

The rate as they were close to that number so all of that would be implied in ESP generally being flat year over year.

What's different about our industry and that is that it's a very as you know very promotional industry and so even though their tariffs we have to be competitively priced all the time.

To be competitive.

So that sometimes will mute the overall impact Asp's also we have product at every <unk>.

Parts of a someone's budget, whether youre in computing, our Tvs and so any product mix changes assortment changes can also have an impact on the asps as well. So overall they are included but we're all seeing pretty competitively priced.

Industry and our Asps like I said are not necessarily the ones that are driving our business overall, it's more on the unit side I just want to lift up one thing that Matt said, our number one focus is on our customer and ensuring we have every price point in every budget available and one of the interesting things when we looked at our price bands you can.

Imagine we're looking at how many skus, we have in each price band and.

A couple of our largest categories year over year very similar amount of skus by price band and so I think the team is doing an amazing job staying focused on having that breadth of assortment, regardless on to Matt's point, whether or not we have a few small price adjustments coming through so that whatever the budget is we're there for them and that will be the goal through the holiday.

Got it it makes a lot of sense I'd love to follow up on labor and working with vendors could you just level set us on how much of the store.

Some vendor support.

And so labor I think you said that youre, adding Tvs recently, they're just I'd love to hear how is that really helps engagement scores with customers. When you have vendors funding.

Funding some of the labor in the store.

The amount of vendor labor is not a static answer it flexes in kind of depends on both time of year and of course launches. Our innovation is different vendors choose to lean in and lead out at various points in time I think one of the differences in our model when it comes to labor as we actually have a number of different ways in which we <unk>.

<unk> with customers from a labor perspective, we have everything from kind of that that advisor, who can flex over the whole store all the way into our own specialized category labor or something like an appliance pro who really understands appliances, all the way into vendor labor, which the team again I give them a lot of credit has done a great job that is a <unk>.

Three close partnership between us and our vendors.

And in most cases that is our labor that we are training and deploying that is of course.

We're trained against that particular vendor assortment, but as part of our broader umbrella of labor here at best buy and then sometimes we have a few examples where we also have just flat out vendor provided labor that's in our stores and what I think we've gotten good at is the operating model amongst all of those different types of labor. So you know when to hand off to.

Specialists, who might have more experience in a certain product and those specialists also understand when it's time to maybe hand back off to someone who might be a more of a generalist because they want to go shop, a different department and so that when we concentrate on how does the operating model work at best buy is embracing that vendor partnership labor, but also ensuring it.

Consistent with the culture the values the way that we think about serving the customer here at that site.

Got it that's great thanks, and good luck.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Jonathan Matuszewski with Jefferies. Your line is open.

Great. Good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. Cory you referenced a gentle commerce I was curious if you could expand there how you think about the top line and potential margin benefits from the prospects in something like instant check out and if you have any timeline.

Slated for integration that would be great. Thank you.

My timeline as fast how's that.

But at the same time joking aside.

You really have to prioritize not just where is the incremental margin flow through but what does the customer experience really look like and particularly in a business like ours that often includes maybe schedule delivery, maybe installation maybe services or membership you really need to think about in instant checkout, how do you what those experiences to trans.

Wait for the customer and that's just when we're talking about the actual transaction point more broadly we want to make sure. We're thinking about how does our brand how does our specific knowledge of our customers show up and how is it helpful to customers as they are using a variety at this point of a gentex tools. So.

We're obviously working quickly to make sure that we are relevant and showing up in the right places, but most important for us in protecting the customer experience. So that stays consistent with how we would want them to experience our own digital assets.

That's helpful and then Matt.

Should we think about the magnitude of hiring and technology spend for retail media.

Next year versus what took place in 2025 trying to understand maybe how much of the neutral operating margin impact for this business is being constrained by elevated investments. This year. Thanks, so much.

Yes, we're not obviously going to guide next year, but I do I do think as it relates to how we're thinking about next year at a high level. We're clearly seeing some sales momentum this year and we would hope to be able to continue to drive some continued momentum on the sales side as we get into next year and obviously higher sales.

<unk> helps promote from a rate leverage perspective.

It is likely true that as we get into next year for some of our initiatives, we're going to need to continue to invest in both the marketplace and the ads business exactly how much and how much flows through still haven't completed the math on that quite yet but.

That is something we want to do because over the long period of time, it's going to help us drive more rates and fuel are others. Other parts of our business over the long term and we think that's a good trade off so exactly how much that looks next year hard to say, but we do think it's a it's an accretive thing for us over the over the one to three to five year period.

Thank you best of luck.

Thank you. Thank you.

The next question comes from Seth Sigman with Barclays. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, everyone.

I wanted to ask about SG&A, you were able to manage that down quite a bit this quarter. Despite the best sales growth in more than four years. So just curious was there anything unique this quarter. If you could unpack that that would be helpful.

I'm, just curious does SG&A need to come back more.

About a scenario where comps remain positive what does the normal operating leverage in the business look like.

Yes for Q3, I think we did.

C rate.

Great favorability on the SG&A side, a lot of that came from the higher than expected sales expectations and higher sales year over year. We did see a combination of a few things come in better than we expected like lower technology spend a little bit lower labor spend in the quarter again nothing.

<unk> had a few smaller settlements that also helped us in the quarter as well are those things none of them were dramatic but a lot of SG&A favorability and the rate is just coming from the leverage we get on the sales in terms of our performance. So as we get into next year again, not guiding but there's places where we're obviously always have a little bit of inflation as we go year to.

The year in terms of wages and whatnot will factor those in and there are some places where we feel like we're going to need to continue to invest to drive long term growth. We just talked about a couple of marketplace in the ads business, so but that would be our goal to be able to drive the sales over over the long term and get leverage as we as we grow that sales exactly.

Exactly how much we're still like I said, we're still doing the math on that next year, but.

We have been really good about finding operational efficiencies and cost reductions to help offset the pressures that we have we've been doing that for years. We would continue to expect to be able to do that you've talked a lot about those places in the past, where we're using kind of a new data driven sourcing around our supply chain. We are a primary.

Our relationship with Fedex.

Parcel carrier, we've talked about the automated.

Automated guided vehicles in our warehouse, which we continue to test and rollout and then Theres just a lot of efficiencies through technology and analytics that we can help with our partners drive more efficiencies around customer support capabilities and.

Just future AI opportunities as it relates a lot of our businesses business areas. Overall. So there are places for us to kind of offset some of those pressures that do come every year like we've been doing and so we feel like over the long term that would be our intent is to try to drive more profitability of our businesses as we as we grow the sales.

Okay. Thank you for that that's helpful. And then obviously great to see comps positive, but I want to ask you about the categories that are not performing as well what needs to happen for the CE category in the appliance category to get back to growth.

Thanks for the thanks for the question the appliance category is probably the most difficult one that we have in the market today. The vast majority of the appliance market is duress customers, meaning that they are replacing a product that has broken some way. We're also seeing a very high amount of single unit purchases, meaning.

Washer breaks theyre, not replacing the washer and dryer pair there just replacing the washer, which is just very different than what generally happens in the market and that is a very high percentage in total which means that promos are not as effective as they are in total because youre dealing with a fixed customer base. We also don't have a pro business and really our sweet spot is.

Merrily premium and packages.

And in the <unk>.

Historic years are really where we have to do with shift our model a little bit. So we're looking at increasing our labor coverage in the department also looking at focusing on delivery and speed of delivery in particular, which is critical in address market and then also looking at even having opportunities in some of our stores for a customer to be able to take the product with them that day, which is also.

Something that has emphasized more in the market that we're in so looking to adjust our model until it flips back a little bit more towards our sweet spot, which is again that premium and packages, but we really need to meet the customer where they're at in a very diverse market and hopefully as housing and different things changed in the market starts to swing back to something that might be a little bit more normal.

On the TV side I would just make a couple of comments there.

Our revenue performance did improve sequentially, even though it was still down year over year. What's interesting is that our unit performance really accelerated and moved to slight growth in the quarter.

And so you can see some of the industry wide ASP decompression, there, which we've talked about.

I I R share trends have improved materially on the unit side and we believe that were up slightly year over year on television and a lot of that because we have invested in some of the things that we've been talking about that sharp pricing the increased marketing and expanded specialty labor and those expanded merchandising experiences in the stores with <unk>.

<unk> and <unk> and LG, and then augmenting that with the expanded services offerings and working on how that experience works digitally all of that I think the team is doing a great job, putting together a more full some assortment and more even more price point options for our customers, which is at least moving that business in the right trajectory.

<unk>.

Great. Thank you for that happy holidays.

Happy holidays.

The next question comes from Christopher <unk> with Jpmorgan. Your line is open.

Thanks, Good morning.

Morning. So my first question I'm going to try to go out.

The marketplace any adds margin accretion a little bit differently I know others have asked so can.

Can you talk about.

What youre seeing in terms of like the benefit of both businesses. So the gross margin line in the second half and then as you think about in 2026, one would expect.

Revenue growth there to accelerate is it your expectation that as the business scales. The margin rates of those businesses also accelerated I think.

On our side, we think about that as strong double digit.

Margin rates for both businesses.

Yes.

<unk> got a little bit for both the different parts of the P&L here first if I think about gross profit rate for both ads and marketplace. They're both helped the gross profit rate in the back half of this year.

So obviously in the marketplace side, we're scaling that business. If you think about the rating is helpful. There.

As we get into next year, we would continue to expect the marketplace to scale, but we're clearly going to lap the launch and midway through next year, which have might have an impact but generally speaking.

More you grow it more <unk> the more net commissions should be helpful to the gross margin right now exactly linear every quarter, depending on the scaling and when we lap.

On the AD side from a gross profit rate perspective, again, we're continuing to explore and expand into new parts of the ASIC business.

That we are successful in driving incremental revenue and profitability from that which we do.

We're planning to do that would also be helpful to the gross profit rate into the future now exactly how much.

How it laps every quarter it might not be might not be exactly the same but those would be the intent.

On the Oi rate side, I think it's going to come down to is we talked a little bit earlier like how much do we feel like we need to invest and what's the opportunity for that investment and return looks like and so as we get into next year. That's something we're still evaluating in terms of the technology the people and other things that we might need to drive those two initiatives. We think those are the <unk>.

Right decisions overall over time for us to drive more rate opportunities from those two initiatives.

Exactly how much flows through to Oi or we're not quite ready to commit to at this point, but we do believe it's a good it's a good return for us and Chris The last thing that I would add and I know you know this but I feel compelled.

Our goal here is really to stay more relevant with the customer and our goal is to drive more units to be there more often in consideration and to make sure that we are leveraging like partnerships. We mentioned a few on the call to stay relevant with that consumer has so many choices.

And so that part we're starting to see early green shoots on and that becomes really the flywheel that we've been talking about that helps feed all parts of the business and thats as much what we're focused on building and expanding next year as anything.

Got it and then.

How are you planning the holiday you mentioned are largely similar promotional calendar and an event driven consumer but November was tough last year and you have a government shutdown the stop.

To start the month as we look at monthly two year trends are all over the place, but the business is bending upwards. So.

Can you talk about what you're seeing here in November if there was any impact early a month on the shutdown and how youre thinking about sort of the cadence over the quarter given how the comparison dynamics last year. Thanks, so much.

Yes, I mean as we start Q4, we are lapping strong sales last year as we noted on the call last year, we were running at about 5% growth for the first three weeks in November.

I'm not sure how much the government shall we haven't done the math on specifically the government shut down probably doesn't help certain geographies, obviously are more impacted than others, but we are comping pretty larger amount of growth through the first three weeks of November so the shape of the quarter is likely going to be a little bit different this year compared to <unk>.

Last year November.

November was up 4% last year December was down 2%. So as we get into December the compares get a little easier and we are seeing people gravitate towards those big events that obviously this week and as the weeks before Christmas or the biggest events of the holidays. So we do feel like Theres an opportunity there for us. So we still feel like there's an opportunity for us to grow <unk>.

Sales the shape will look a little different even though the timing is pretty similar to how we saw last year.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from Anthony Chicken breast with <unk> capital markets. Your line is open.

Good morning, and thank you Steve.

I know this is always kind of tough.

Because all the different product categories, you can bring but how do you feel just at a high level.

The market share I mean, particularly given the fact that it.

The accelerated and you should have the best comps.

So how do you think about that at a high level.

I appreciate where you started Anthony because it is really difficult in this industry. There just isn't a single source of share information and there are multiple cuts that being said when we tried to pull and triangulate all the data sources. We believe we have improved our share position over the last two quarters and in Q3, we estimate that our share was.

Flattish to slightly up obviously, we've always said shares a long game conversation for us and all the initiatives that we're talking about are driving toward more of the sustained ability to at the highest level of drive shares and in that youre going to constantly be making trade off promotion decisions tradeoff pricing decisions, we feel like we're strong right now.

<unk> and computing and gaming I talked about our TV unit share position, which now we feel like is airing on the positive side and Theres a lot of these kind of newer categories or the expanded assortment that we're seeing a marketplace that is bolstering our point of view about how we feel like we're sitting for share. So again always a conversation longer game, but feel like the trajectory is headed.

The direction that we want.

Got it that's helpful context, and then just real quickly on the on the switch to obviously, that's been selling quite well and a ton of interest.

Sure.

Estimate for their fiscal year, how have you felt about your switch to allocations relative to your initial expectations I know you historically over indexed on Nintendo approach, particularly relative to.

Playstation and Xbox would.

Look to your thoughts just in terms of how you feel you guys are.

Doing from an allocation perspective, thank you.

Yes. Thank you for the question, we've actually been very happy with Us, which do obviously the launch was outstanding it drove growth last quarter and we do expect gaming to continue to grow as we lead into Q4, it's been highly publicized that the amount of switch two units in the market is a lot higher than what switch one was in the same timeframe. So we.

I've actually been happy with the ability to come closer to meeting customer demand. We do think demand over holiday. We will continue to still be very strong and then in gaming in general it's not just switch there are other aspects of that business that are driving growth were just seeing a handheld in general whether it be the new product from us use that as a partnership with them and Xbox.

<unk> or other products from companies like Lenovo with their Legion go just handheld gaming is a driver across the entire gaming segment. We're really excited that we think we have the best assortment, there and can really meet customers' needs across anything they want to do whether it be switch all the way up to any any aspect of handheld gaming in total and that's really making.

Up for some of the slowing sales as you see in just the traditional PS five and Xbox as well as get to the end of their lifecycle and one of the things that I think it's interesting about all of the devices that Jason just talked about these are pretty high price point devices, and especially considering their gaming they tend toward kind of a younger cohort. So we really like.

Our position here and we're kind of doubling down both physically and digitally to make sure. We offer the best possible experience I give our teams a ton of credit because part of the reason that we're able to get the kind of allocations. We can because we can deliver these amazing experiences, especially at retail.

So with that I think that's our last question Oh, Thanks, Anthony I appreciate it.

So I think that's our last question. Thank you all so much for joining US. We hope you all have a lovely holiday season, and we look forward to speaking with you all at the end of our year.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for joining you may now disconnect.

Yeah.

Yeah.

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