best buy wasn’t spared during the retailcentric market selloff last week which lowered expectations for the electronics seller’s coming earnings due out before the bell tuesday if the company can buck the trend and offer a more upbeat outlook that could bolster the stock consensus calls for best buy ticker bby to earn 157 a share in its fiscal first quarter on revenue of 1041 billion that would mark a decline from the yearago period when best buy earned 223 a share on revenue of 1164 billion not surprisingly earnings per share revisions have been overwhelmingly negative with analysts’ estimates for the quarter coming down 2 in the past week alone following disappointing results from retail bellwethers walmart wmt and target tgt best buy was a big winner during the pandemic given that more people bought personal electronics to work and play at home while also spending on appliances amid a strong housing market however concerns about the sustainably of those trends have grown recently especially after best buy’s previous quarter delivered in march showed mixed results during the key christmas season at that time the company was able to offer reassuring guidance which helped the shares yet other big retailers have walked back or lower their expectations for the full year this earnings season leaving investors worried that best buy may have to do the same if the company can avoid doing so that would likely help the stock but it may find it difficult to do so as consumers shift their spending and grapple with record inflation analysts are split on best buy half are sidelined according to data from factset while 43 still rate it at buy or the equivalent and there are two bearish calls on the shares that said after the recent slide the average analyst price target of 11533 is well above the 74 level where the shares opened monday