Best Buy Co.'s (BBY) fiscal first-quarter profit fell 15% on restructuring charges, handily beating Wall Street's expectations as efforts to control expenses and limit discounts offset disappointing sales.

Still, the largest U.S. consumer electronics retailer maintained its fiscal 2010 financial guidance, citing "limited visibility to consumer spending in the back half of the year" and the fact that Best Buy generates most of its earnings around the holidays.

Shares were recently down 3% at $37.50 in premarket trading. Ahead of the release, Best Buy shares had gained 37.5% year to date, outrunning broader markets and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF.

For the period ended May 30, the company posted income of $153 million, or 36 cents a share, down from $179 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest quarter included 6 cents a share in restructuring charges.

Revenue increased 12% to $10.1 billion, reflecting the inclusion of Best Buy Europe revenue. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least 14 months and including Internet sales, fell 6.2% companywide but dropped 4.9% in the U.S.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 34 cents a share on revenue of $10.12 billion. They expected a companywide same-store sales decline of 2.8%.

Best Buy said it gained nearly 2 percentage points in U.S. market share in the three months ended April 30, providing evidence that it has gained customers from the bankruptcy filing and subsequent closing in March of Circuit City Stores Inc. (CCTYQ). But it said customer traffic in U.S. stores was lower than a year earlier and its average sales ticket was flat, hurt by decreases in gaming, appliances, digital cameras and movies.

U.S. comparable-store sales declines were steepest in May, Best Buy said. Electronics was among the retail categories that benefited most from tax rebate checks a year ago, setting up tough comparisons for the month.

Gross margin rose a better-than-expected 25.3% from 23.7%, helped by the higher-margin mobile phone sales of Best Buy Europe, a joint venture with Carphone Warehouse Group PLC of Britain. Higher margins in digital imaging, home theater and other products in the U.S. also helped, the company said.

"We remain focused on delivering our annual earnings guidance of $2.50 to $2.90 per diluted share, excluding restructuring charges," Chief Financial Officer Jim Muehlbauer said in the company's release. "Given the limited visibility to consumer spending in the back half of the year, along with the fact that majority of the company's earnings are derived from the holiday selling season, it is prudent to maintain our original guidance at this point."

Best Buy in March said it expected revenue of $46.5 billion to $48.5 billion, with same-store sales flat to 5% lower and more pressure on sales in the first half than in the second. It didn't comment on those figures ahead of its 10 a.m. EDT conference call.

Bob Willett, head of the company's international operations, said last month that Best Buy was sticking to its plan to double revenue by 2013, despite scaling back international expansion because of the global recession.

The company said Tuesday it was still on track to open 20 large-format stores internationally this year. Its release didn't mention U.S. store openings, which the company in March pegged at 45 for this year.

Tuesday, Willett said, "Though we are never pleased to report a decline in comparable-store sales, we are pleased to see areas of strength across the business," including revenue growth in Europe and gross margin improvement in China.

While the first quarter typically accounts for less than one-fifth of annual earnings, investors are scouring results for evidence consumers will remain cautious on discretionary purchases. They're also seeking signs that Circuit City's closing has either provided Best Buy a chance to gobble up more market share or has provided Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and other discounters a window to make substantial inroads into the electronics category.

Indeed, Wal-Mart last month began revamping its electronics department last month to showcase the latest mobile phones and portable computers.

But Best Buy has signaled it's willing to take on competitors head on. One of its newest commercials features a worker describing how she helped a customer calling from Wal-Mart with questions about TVs - and how she converted him into a Best Buy customer. Best Buy is also emphasizing its price-match guarantee.

U.S. Commerce Department retail sales figures for electronics retailers in April and May had some investors spooked that electronics had fallen off shoppers' radars. But several analysts said Circuit City's inclusion in figures a year ago but not this year exaggerated the industry declines, since some retailers that picked up market share, such as Wal-Mart, aren't counted in the Commerce Department's category of electronics retailers.

Best Buy last said its U.S. market share was 22% as of Jan. 31. Barclays Capital analyst Michael Lasser, citing the most recent annual rankings by trade magazine This Week in Consumer Electronics, or TWICE, said recently Best Buy took 24% of the market in 2008, up nearly a percentage point and gaining roughly the same share as both Wal-Mart and Amazon.com (AMZN) over the last year.

-By Mary Ellen Lloyd, Dow Jones Newswires, 704-948-9145; maryellen.lloyd@dowjones.com

-Kerry E. Grace contributed to this report.