Best Buy Beats Street Solidly

Electronics megastore Best Buy on Tuesday reported that first-quarter net earnings rose 38 percent, blowing past analyst expectations.

Best Buy earned $234 million, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter that ended May 27. That compares with earnings of $170 million, or 34 cents per share, during the same period last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thompson Financial were expecting earning of 36 cents per share.

Wall Street applauded Best Buy's results, as shares rose $2.66, or 5.43 percent, to $51.69 by market close Tuesday.

A Commerce Department report said that while spending is somewhat slow that it continues to chug along and is still up, perhaps a factor feeding Best Buy stores. The report said the retail sales were up .1 percent compared with .8 percent.