Strong quarter is posted by Best Buy

Best Buy Co. reported an 8.7% jump Tuesday in its quarterly profit, well ahead of what analysts had predicted.

Shares of the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer, which gave a bullish forecast for the full year, jumped more than 6.5%.

The gains were driven by Best Buy’s Canadian operations and tighter controls on spending. However, sales at U.S. stores open at least 14 months rose an anemic 1.7%.

Profit of $250 million, or 55 cents a share, for Best Buy’s fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 1 easily beat the 44 cents expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Last year, Best Buy earned $230 million, or 47 cents a share, in the quarter.

Earnings per share were boosted by the repurchase of 56.8 million shares during the quarter, reducing the number of shares outstanding by 8%.

The effect of the share repurchase was small in the second quarter because the buybacks fell toward the middle and end of the quarter, said Brad Anderson, Best Buy’s chief executive and vice chairman.