JB Hi-Fi hits record FY26 sales but Q4 slowdown sinks the stock

JB Hi-Fi (JBH) reported record FY26 sales of $11.06 billion and lifted its full-year dividend 22.5% to 337 cents, yet the stock is on track to record its worst one-day decline since the 7 April 2025 tariff meltdown.

The result read well at face value, but its sales growth aggressively decelerated into the fourth quarter. The FY27 trading update (1-Jul to 31-Jul) was also negative across JB Hi-Fi Australia, The Good Guys and e&s.

FY26 at a glance

The result landed broadly in-line with market expectations, with a slightly better-than-expected dividend.

• Total sales up 4.8% to $11.06bn vs $11.12bn ests (in line)

  • JB Hi-Fi Australia sales up 4.4% to $7.42bn with comparable sales up 3.2%

  • The Good Guys sales up 2.7% to $2.94bn, with comparable sales up 2.7%

  • New Zealand sales up 26% to N$499.5m, comparable sales up 15.3%

  • e&s sales down 0.2%to $273.1m and comparable sales down 3.2%

• EBIT up 3.8% on underlying to $734.4m vs $734.9m ests (in line)

• EBIT margin down 7 bps to 6.64% vs. UBS ests of 6.4%

• NPAT up 2.9% on underlying to $489.9m vs $492m ests (in line)

• EPS up 2.9% on underlying to 448.1 cents vs 448.4 cents ests (in line)

• FY26 ordinary dividend up 22.5% to 337.0 cps vs. UBS ests of 329 cps (2.4% beat)

Q4 deceleration and FY27 trading update

JB Hi-Fi Australia total sales growth by quarter ran 6.0%, 6.5%, 4.0% and 0.3%, while comparable sales ran 5.0%, 5.0%, 2.6% and negative 0.8%. That's a 580 basis point deterioration in comps between the second quarter and the fourth.

JB Hi-Fi cited: "Sales growth in Q4 was impacted by supplier price rises and stock availability shortages in the technology categories, along with cycling new product releases in the prior year."

JB Hi-Fi Australia sales growth by quarter (Source: JB Hi-Fi FY26 results presentation)

The decline was more pronounced for e&s, which specialises in kitchen, bathroom and laundry appliances.

e&S sales growth by quarter (Source: JB Hi-Fi FY26 results presentation)

This trend extended into the FY27 trading update, which covers the period 1 July to 31 July 2026.

• JB Hi-Fi Australia total sales down 0.5%, comparable sales down 1.4%

• The Good Guys total sales down 1.7%, comparable sales down 1.7%

• e&s total sales down 2.7%, comparable sales down 4.0%

• JB Hi-Fi New Zealand total sales up 20.9%, comparable sales up 11.7%

Group CEO Nick Wells said: “We continue to see variability in trading, with customers increasingly looking for value and migrating spend to key promotional events, along with impacts from supplier price rises and stock availability shortages in the technology categories."

Jefferies analysts called the result uncharacteristically weak and a reflection of the consumer environment, with expectations of a sharp share price decline and drag on other discretionary retailers.

Prior to the result, consensus expectations for 1H27 same store sales growth were 2.2%. That's a high bar given the Q4 deceleration and a negative FY27 trading update, and consensus downgrades look likely from here.

JB Hi-Fi isn't all that cheap either. The stock has averaged a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.8x since 2006 and only broke above its historical range (~6-15x) in mid-2024. It peaked at 26x in September 2025 and trades around 16.5x today.

The bottom line: JB Hi-Fi delivered a strong FY26 across sales, net profit and dividends, in a volatile operating environment where most of the conditions have been working against retailers. The problem is that sales decelerated aggressively in Q4 and again in the first month of FY27, when the market had expected things to stabilise. That weakness lands while the stock trades at an elevated multiple against its historical averages and peers like Harvey Norman at around 10.7x.