Best Buy's Second Quarter Diluted EPS Grows 62% Year-Over-Year to $0.60 (BBY)

Best Buy Co., Inc. BBY Q2 2011 Highlights: Gross margin rate increased 130 basis points year-over-year to 25.7 percent. SG&A dollar growth slowed sequentially, from the previous quarter, increasing 4 percent year-over-year. Operating margin increased 110 basis points year-over-year to 3.6 percent. Diluted EPS increased 62 percent year-over-year to $0.60. Share repurchases totaled approximately $600 million in the second fiscal quarter (approximately $700 million in shares repurchased for the first fiscal half). The company estimates that the share repurchases completed in the first fiscal half had an approximately 1 cent positive impact to fiscal second quarter's diluted EPS. Fiscal 2011 diluted EPS guidance increased by 10 cents to $3.55 to $3.70 to reflect impact of share repurchases completed in the first fiscal half (the new guidance range excludes the impact of potential share repurchases that may be completed in the second fiscal half).