Mar. 26--Shoppers don't seem to be giving up their consumer electronics as easily as luxury handbags or a steak night out.

Best Buy reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and provided a more upbeat forecast for this year, sending shares as much as 15 percent higher Thursday.

As its chief rival Circuit City permanently closed its doors, Best Buy said it gained market share and improved its employee turnover rate as sales declines eased as the quarter progressed.

Beaumont-based Conn's Inc. said the liquidation sales at Circuit City, which has a large footprint in Texas, affected its results, but it still managed a 12.5 percent increase in same-store sales in its fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Conn's said shoppers purchased flat-panel TVs, video game equipment, laptop computers and DVD players.

Best Buy reported net income excluding items of $1.61 a share in the quarter ended Feb. 28, vs. $1.71 a share in the same period last year. Revenue in the quarter rose 10 percent to $14.7 billion, up from the prior year's $13.4 billion, reflecting the addition of 213 new stores and its European expansion with Carphone Warehouse.

Revenue gains were offset by a comparable-store sales decline of 4.9 percent and the unfavorable impact of foreign currency exchange rates.

But there's a silver lining when the months are separated. Same-store sales in the U.S. declined 2.5 percent in the combined January and February period compared with a 6.8 percent decline in December.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $1.40 on revenue of $14.82 billion, with a 6.9 percent decline in same-store sales.

"We prepared for reduced consumer spending, and we were pleased when the quarter finished stronger than it began," said Brad Anderson, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Best Buy.

Best Buy said it gained another 1.2 percentage points in market share to nearly 22 percent of all U.S. electronics sales. It's also been working on reducing employee turnover and raised its turnover rate by 16 percentage points to 44 percent. .

The shutdown of Circuit City, its own new store openings and the strength of key product categories such as notebook computers and flat-panel TVs are reasons to see better results this year.

Best Buy said it expects earnings in the range of $2.50 to $2.90 a share, which is better than the analyst consensus forecast of $2.47 a share.

Conn's said fourth-quarter net income declined slightly to $12.63 million, or 56 cents as share, vs. net income of $13.06 million, or 57 cents, in the same period a year ago.

Total revenue increased 19.5 percent to $269.9 million, both from strong same-store sales and an increase in finance charges collected from customers. The regional chain of 75 stores also sells home appliance, lawn and garden products, furniture and mattresses.

Conn's also just launched a new Web site that integrates online with store inventory, and management said it has "the opportunity to create good additional volume."

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