5 strengths of Best Buy

As the retailer takes on a slew of challenges, including stronger online competition

and sluggish sales, analysts say the company has its strengths:

Best Buy sells more televisions, computers and tablets than any other retailer in the world. It remains the top U.S. seller of tablets, Windows and Apple notebooks, and flat-panel televisions above 50 inches. Last year, its share of smartphone sales increased by 50 percent.

With 1,400 outlets, Best Buy generates 80 percent of its consumer electronics revenue from physical stores, which attract more than 600 million visits each year, Best Buy estimates.

With more than 300 standalone stores, the smaller format, developed with Carphone Warehouse, has been a big hit by focusing mostly on tablets and smartphones and connecting those devices to the Internet.

Best Buy produces about $1.5 billion in free cash flow a year.

The computer repair division has established best buy as a merchant of electronics expertise, generating more than $1 billion annually. Technicians do everything from installing and connecting devices to performing energy audits and customizing cars. Now, Geek Squad is taking aim at the $40-billion-a-year small-business market.