Strativest CapitalSTRATIVEST RESEARCH
Independent research · Est. October 2026
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Stock X-Ray · Consumer Discretionary · S&P 500 Full Coverage — Phase 1

Best Buy (BBY)

X-Ray dated Oct 28, 2026 · Share price as of Oct 28, 2026 intraday, when the valuation snapshot was captured · Financials from SEC filings (EDGAR) · Valuation multiples from a labelled secondary source
The verdict — valuation label: UNDERVALUED

Forward P/E is 13.82x against a peer median of 20.25x, a ratio of 0.68x — below the fair range — with trailing P/E 16.20x and PEG 2.87. Latest-quarter revenue grew 3.6% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), slower than the group pace but still growing, so the value-trap check is not triggered. Delivered demand check: the retail — broadline & specialty group's median growth was 8.1% year over year — demand rising, while this company grew more slowly at 3.6%.

13.8×
Forward P/E — price vs next year’s expected earnings (secondary source)
20.2×
Peer median forward P/E — closest comparable companies
16.2×
Trailing P/E — price vs the last twelve months of earnings
0.5×
Price / sales

What would change this label: Move to FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E rises to about 18.23x or above (0.90x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if revenue growth falls below 0% year over year for two quarters. Move to OVERVALUED if the forward P/E rises above about 23.29x (1.15x the peer median) without a matching upgrade to growth.

In simple words

Best Buy sells televisions, computers, phones and appliances. Its shares trade at about 14 times expected earnings, well below similar retail companies at about 20 times, while its sales grew 3.6%. Growth is modest and slower than the group, but the discount is large, so the shares look undervalued.

Words we use, in plain English: P/E ratio — the share price divided by earnings per share; how many dollars you pay for one dollar of yearly profit. Forward P/E — the same, using next year’s expected earnings. Free cash flow — cash a company has left after running the business and buying equipment. TTM — the last twelve months. Drawdown — the worst fall from a peak to the low after it.
The share price vs the market — six years
Best Buy (BBY)S&P 500 (SPY)
36851351842342021202220232024202520262020-09-012026-10-27

Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Best Buy returned -13.22% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Best Buy: -59.8% (2021-11-22 to 2026-05-13). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.

What the label rests on

Forward P/E is 13.82x against a peer median of 20.25x, a ratio of 0.68x — below the fair range — with trailing P/E 16.20x and PEG 2.87. Latest-quarter revenue grew 3.6% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), slower than the group pace but still growing, so the value-trap check is not triggered. Delivered demand check: the retail — broadline & specialty group's median growth was 8.1% year over year — demand rising, while this company grew more slowly at 3.6%. The company’s forward P/E is 13.8× against a peer median of 20.2×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Retail — broadline & specialty group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 8.1% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Best Buy grew 3.6%, well below the group median but still growing. Latest-quarter sales growth was +3.6% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).

CompanyPrice (Oct 28, 2026)Forward P/ETrailing P/E
Best Buy (BBY)$97.4013.8×16.2×
TSCO—15.9×17.2×
GPC—15.3×545.0×
ULTA—20.2×22.5×
WSM—25.1×25.5×
CVNA—29.2×32.8×
Peer median20.2×

Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.

Sales, profit and cash

Sales each quarter, and the gross margin
SalesGross margin (right axis)
$0B$6B$13B$19B0%14%29%Oct 2020Oct 2021Oct 2022Oct 2023Nov 2024Nov 2025Aug 2026

Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.

Cash left over each quarter (free cash flow)
PositiveNegative
$-2B$0B$2BOct 2020Oct 2021Oct 2022Oct 2023Nov 2024Nov 2025Aug 2026

Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.

QuarterSalesGross marginNet incomeEPS (GAAP, diluted)Free cash flow
Q/E Aug 2026
2026-08-01
$9.8B23.9%$315M1.48$737M
Q/E May 2026
2026-05-02
$8.9B23.5%$276M1.31$215M
Q/E Jan 2026
2026-01-31
$13.8B20.9%$541M—$1.1B
Q/E Nov 2025
2025-11-01
$9.7B23.2%$140M0.66$-287M
Q/E Aug 2025
2025-08-02
$9.4B23.2%$186M0.87$574M
Q/E May 2025
2025-05-03
$8.8B23.4%$202M0.95$-132M
Q/E Feb 2025
2025-02-01
$13.9B20.9%$117M—$1.4B
Q/E Nov 2024
2024-11-02
$9.4B23.5%$273M1.26$-449M
Q/E Aug 2024
2024-08-03
$9.3B23.5%$291M1.34$478M
Q/E May 2024
2024-05-04
$8.8B23.3%$246M1.13$4M
Q/E Feb 2024
2024-02-03
$14.6B20.5%$460M—$997M
Q/E Oct 2023
2023-10-28
$9.8B22.9%$263M1.21$-108M

The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.

Earnings: getting better or worse?

Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.

Oct 2022
1.22
Jan 2023
—
Apr 2023
1.11
Jul 2023
1.25
Oct 2023
1.21
Feb 2024
—
May 2024
1.13
Aug 2024
1.34
Nov 2024
1.26
Feb 2025
—
May 2025
0.95
Aug 2025
0.87
Nov 2025
0.66
Jan 2026
—
May 2026
1.31
Aug 2026
1.48

Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

Key facts

ItemValue
Company (legal name in filings)BEST BUY CO INC
Chief executiveCorie Barry (source: https://corporate.bestbuy.com/our-leadership/corie-barry/)
SectorConsumer Discretionary — Computer & Electronics Retail — sells consumer electronics, computers and appliances through Best Buy stores
Share price (Oct 28, 2026)$97.40
Market value (market cap)$20.7B — share price times shares outstanding of 209,727,698 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest))
Sales, last twelve months$42.2B
Net income, last twelve months$1.3B
Free cash flow, last twelve months$1.8B
Latest reported quarterQ/E Aug 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack)
Six-year price return vs S&P 500-13.22% vs +118.28%
Worst peak-to-trough fall-59.8% (2021-11-22 to 2026-05-13)

What we could not verify

  • TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
  • Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
  • CEO transition announced: Jason Bonfig to succeed Corie Barry effective Nov 1, 2026; Barry still CEO as of Oct 28, 2026 per company leadership page
  • Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.

The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.

Sources

  • SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name. https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000764478.json
  • SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares. https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000764478.json
  • Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates. https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/BBY/historical?assetclass=stocks
  • Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.

Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.

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