Moody's Vice President Charlie O'Shea says the U.S. Super Bowl is a strong period for consumer electronic companies like Best Buy.

SHOWS: NEW YORK, USA (JANUARY 16, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. MOODY'S, VICE PRESIDENT AND SENIOR ANALYST CHARLIE O'SHEA, SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING CHARLIE O'SHEA: 'Investors, they don't like this company one bit. The stock in fact has been taking a beating today but you see potential. Talk to me about that?'

OSHEA: 'Our view here is from a fixed income perspective and we see the company generating significant amounts of cash flow significant cash balances of over $3 billion against a funded debt balance of about $1.6 billion. The company has been performing well over the last several quarters. The online business is generating significant traction. They are still seeing some significant store traffic in their brick and mortar locations which we have always felt were an asset and the company was able to leverage the new iPhone launch as this fall to have a pretty good holiday season. We would caution however that our view for holiday consumer electronics retailer doesn't end until the Super Bowl so there is still of pretty important weeks coming up for the company.'

JOURNALIST: 'So talk to me about the Super Bowl, how key is that and how much potential is it for Best Buy for that big an event? What does it represent for them?'

OSHEA: 'The two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are really important for consumer electronic retailers, specifically the TV side. Studies have shown and results in the past have shown that those two weeks are as important, or more important, than any other two weeks in the season. The Super Bowl is a big event and people have Super Bowl parties looking to upgrade their television sets and Best Buy has historically done very well in those two weeks.'

JOURNALIST: 'OK but here's the thing, that is a one-off event, once a year, just like the holiday season, they are talking about trouble because of low demand for things like computers and tablets, that is a more ongoing issue. Is that something we should be more concerned about?'

OSHEA: 'I don't really think so. Tablet sales have been choppy for the last couple of years. This holiday they were soft, picked up by TV's and also picked up by the iPhone launch. There is typically a substitution pattern when it comes to tablets and laptops and other forms of small technology items. When a new phone comes out you will typically see some laptop softness and you will see some tablet softness, net-net things typically do work out in the wash and we will have to look for the next couple of quarters to see if that is actually true.'