LA Post: Best Buy flags 'more uneven' consumer demand as Black Friday looms

(Reuters) - Top U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy on Tuesday forecast a bigger decline in annual comparable sales and pointed to "difficult to predict" consumer demand, days ahead of Black Friday that signals the start of the holiday shopping season.

The company's shares, down nearly 15% this year, fell about 5% in premarket trading following a miss on third-quarter revenue estimates.

Elevated interest rates, a spending shift to services from goods and a resumption in student loan repayments have further strained appetite for electronics and home-office products after a pandemic-led surge.

"In the more recent macro environment, consumer demand has been even more uneven and difficult to predict," CEO Corie Barry said in a statement.

Revenue fell 8.2% to $9 billion in the U.S. as demand decline worsened across appliances, home theater, computing and mobile phones, signaling that higher discounts failed to entice shoppers.

Best Buy now expects annual comparable sales to decline in the range of 6.0% to 7.5%, citing weaker November trends, compared with its prior range of a 4.5% to 6.0% drop.

Revenue is forecast in the range of $43.1 billion to $43.7 billion, compared with $43.8 billion to $44.5 billion earlier.

Total revenue fell to $9.76 billion in the third quarter ended Oct. 28 from about $10.59 billion a year earlier and compared with LSEG estimates of $9.90 billion.

(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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