A Fool Looks Back

Best Buy's (NYSE: BBY  ) founder may be ready to move on. The consumer-electronics retailer briefly delayed this week's quarterly earnings announcement to give Richard Schulze time to formalize any potential takeover bid. It failed to materialize by Thursday night's deadline.

"The company received no such offer and will continue to focus on its transformation for the benefit of all of its stakeholders," reads the release.

It's just as well. The last thing Schulze wanted was to have to chase the company higher, and Friday morning's quarterly report was refreshingly better than expected. Revenue inched marginally higher on positive stateside store comps. Analysts were banking on a top-line decline. Profitability took a hit, but the retailer earned more than Wall Street was forecasting.

The future will be challenging. How can it not for a gadgetry and media retailer in an era where digital delivery is becoming the new normal? However, the report was enough to give new CEO Hubert Joly enough ammo to keep working on his turnaround plan.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

• 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD  ) saw its quarterly revenue surge 45%, though organic growth clocked in at a more modest 19%. The 3-D printing revolution lives on.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL  ) closed out a successful 2012, during which it was able to produce 6.4 million ounces of silver. Hecla's targeting 8 million to 9 million ounces of silver this year.
• Income investors have been piling into business development companies for their chunky yields, and Ares Capital (NASDAQ: ARCC  ) didn't disappoint this week. This BDC, with investments in 152 financing-hungry entities, posted better-than-expected bottom-line results. That will keep the distributions coming.

Get smart about tomorrow, too
With so many of the big finance firms getting bad press these days, you may be inclined to stay away from the sector entirely, but that could be a huge mistake. In fact, some of the best opportunities over the next few years can be found there, including one small, under-the-radar bank. It's been called one of The Stocks Only the Smartest Investors Are Buying. You can learn about it, and more, in The Motley Fool's exclusive free report. Just click here to keep reading.