Nvidia, Dell and Dick’s Sporting Goods fall premarket; Best Buy and Kohl’s rise

By Sabrina Escobar

Best Buy rose in premarket trading Tuesday after the company posted a better-than-expected fiscal third quarter and struck an upbeat tone about demand for consumer electronics heading into the holiday season.

Best Buy reported adjusted earnings of $1.40 a share on $9.67 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $1.31 on revenue of $9.57 billion.

Same-store sales grew 2.7% from a year ago, also better than projections for a 1.5% increase.

"We are flexing the unique strength of our model as customers need to upgrade or replace their consumer electronics and new products and innovation are coming to market," said CEO Corie Barry.

The company raised guidance for the fiscal year to reflect the strong third quarter.

It now expects revenue to range from $41.65 billion to $41.95 billion, a bit higher than prior guidance calling for a range of $41.1 billion to $41.9 billion. The company projects that comparable sales will turn positive for the first time in three years, ranging from a 0.5% to 1.2% increase from a year ago. It previously projected that comparable sales would range between a 1% decline and a 1% increase.

Best Buy raised fiscal-year earnings guidance, as well. It now sees adjusted earnings per share ranging between $6.25 to $6.35, compared with second-quarter guidance calling for $6.15 to $6.30.

Best Buy stock was gaining 2.5% ahead of the opening bell.

Write to Sabrina Escobar at sabrina.escobar@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

By Sherry Qin and Tracy Qu

Alibaba Group's profit halved in its fiscal second quarter amid fierce competition in the food-delivery sector, but revenue growth was steady as its artificial-intelligence business gained momentum, with the consumer AI space the latest target in its sights.

The Hangzhou, China-based company said Tuesday that its net profit fell 53% to 20.99 billion yuan, equivalent to $2.96 billion. Adjusted net profit declined by even sharper 72% to 10.35 billion yuan, a tad below market expectations.

Revenue rose about 5% to 247.795 billion yuan for the three months ended September, slightly higher than the consensus in a FactSet poll of analysts.

China's e-commerce players have invested heavily in the food-delivery sector in recent quarters, resorting to aggressive promotions to capture more market share. New entrant JD.com earlier this month reported a 55% drop in net profit for the latest quarter, while sector leader Meituan is expected to post continued operating losses in its food-delivery segment when it reports results later this week.

Despite the sharply lower net profit, Alibaba's American depositary receipts rose almost 5% in premarket trading as investors turned their focus on its AI progress.

For the second quarter, its cloud business revenue climbed 34%, accelerating from the 26% increase in the previous quarter, driven by surging demand for AI services.

"We have entered into an investment phase to build long-term strategic value in AI technologies and infrastructure and a consumption platform integrating daily life services and e-commerce," Chief Executive Eddie Wu said.

On Monday, Alibaba said its Qwen app, a relaunched AI assistant, positioned as a competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, reached 10 million downloads within a week of its public beta launch, emerging as a popular consumer AI tool in China. Alibaba aims to integrate the app with other consumer services in its ecosystem and grow it into a fully functioning AI agent.

The development is the latest sign that Alibaba, whose AI strategy has long focused on cloud computing, is also making headway in the consumer AI market, coming as capital spending on AI and cloud infrastructure reached around 120 billion yuan over the past four quarters.

Alibaba's overseas e-commerce unit posted a 10% increase in revenue. Total revenue from its China e-commerce division, which includes Taobao and Tmall as well as on-demand delivery platform Ele.me, rose 16%.

Behind the intense competition in food delivery and instant shopping among the e-commerce players is the fight to become China's everyday app for transactions across goods and services, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.

"We are reinvesting our profits and free cash flow for the future while near-term profitability is expected to fluctuate," Chief Financial Officer Toby Xu said.

While the competition will continue to eat into earnings, analysts said Alibaba stands to benefit in the long term.

Morningstar sees the company as the biggest winner of China's on-demand delivery price battle this year, even though Meituan is expected to continue holding a dominant share of the pie, analysts Chelsey Tam and Junhao Yang wrote in a note, adding that the price war could conclude by the end of 2027.

Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com and Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

By Nicholas G. Miller

Burlington Stores reported higher third-quarter sales and raised its full-year outlook in the latest sign that consumers are flocking to off-price retailers due to concerns about inflation and the economy.

The off-price apparel retailer reported net income of $105 million, or $1.63 a share, up from $91 million, or $1.40 a share, the year prior.

Excluding certain expenses associated with bankruptcy acquired leases, adjusted earnings were $1.80 a share.

Total sales rose 7% to $2.71 billion. Wall Street expected $2.72 billion.

Comparable sales rose 1%. Analysts expected 2.6%.

The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings outlook to $9.69 to $9.89 a share, up from its previous forecast of $9.19 to $9.59 a share. Analysts see adjusted earnings of $9.57 a share.

It also guided for full-year total sales growth of 8%. It has previously forecast sales growth 7% to 8%.

"Traffic to our stores fell off significantly after the back-to-school period driven by unseasonably warm temperatures in our major markets. Our comp trend then picked up to mid-single-digits in mid-October once the weather cooled, and that strong trend has continued through the first three weeks of November," said Chief Executive Michael O'Sullivan.

Last week, TJX raised its full-year outlook and reported 5% comparable sales growth in its most recent quarter as it said it was winning over budget-conscious consumers.

UBS analysts said in a note Monday that the current consumer environment sets up off-price retailers like TJX and Burlington to overperform this holiday season. The analysts said the combination of relative personal financial strength with widespread concern about the path of the economy will push consumers to keep spending but be more price-conscious, boosting off-price retailers.

Write to Nicholas G. Miller at nicholas.miller@wsj.com.

Q3 2025 saw net sales decline 2.8% year-over-year, but gross margin improved by 51 bps and SG&A fell 2.1%. Adjusted net income was $11 million, with strong proprietary brand performance and positive growth in key categories. Full-year guidance anticipates continued sales declines but stable margins and EPS.

Original document: Kohl's Corporation [KSS] Slides Release — Nov. 25 2025

Record FY24 sales and margin expansion were achieved, driven by omni-channel growth and strategic investments. The Foot Locker acquisition positions the company as a global leader, with integration underway and cost synergies targeted for 2026.

Original document: Dick's Sporting Goods Inc [DKS] Slides Release — Nov. 25 2025