One good quarter of comparable-store sales growth didn't shake the conviction of Michael Pachter, a senior analyst with Wedbush Securities of Los Angeles and a holdout among securities analysts who post a recommendation on Best Buy Co.'s stock.
According to Thomson Reuters, of the 27 investment recommendations published about Best Buy's stock on Friday, 17 were a buy or strong buy rating. There was precisely one sell recommendation.
That's got to be from Pachter, who actually has an "underperform" rating with a 12-month target price of $18 per share. If he's right, that would be quite a painful ride down for shareholders, given the current share price of more than $38.
Pachter, in an update report published Thursday after Richfield-based Best Buy released its quarterly results, once again makes a very good case for skepticism. If his were the only research report a shareholder ever read, that investor just might sell.
It is important to note that he is not critical of the people running the company. To the contrary, he's somewhere between fair and generous in his comments.
In his latest update he apologizes even, for not only having been wrong in his comments in a TV appearance about the iPhone 6's impact on revenue growth, but also saying Best Buy was disingenuous.
After seeing this CNBC segment, I would maybe suggest he think also about following up with a handwritten apology note. And maybe flowers.
The point he makes in his far more measured research report is that the challenges are beyond the talents of anybody trying to run Best Buy.
