NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Best Buy (BBY) - Get Report struggles may be a thing of the past as the electronics retailer posted higher-than-expected profits owing to cost cuts and new product strategies.  

Not only did the company beat Wall Street earnings estimates by 13 cents, Best Buy hiked its quarterly dividend by 21% to 23 cents per share, up from 19 cents per share. Best Buy also said it would buy back $1 billion of its shares by 2018. Shares recently traded at close to $39, putting the stock into positive territory for 2015.

The Minneapolis-based retailer will pay shareholders a dividend of 51 cents per share, taken from proceeds it receives from various legal settlements. These include legal issues stemming from liquid crystal displays prices, or LCDs, sold in the United States.

All of this means, Best Buy, the largest U.S. consumer electronics chain, may be more confident about its financial position. Its stock has become a bargain for investors looking for a strong turnaround candidate. The company's announcements support why most analysts were increasingly bullish about the company's prospects.

Ahead of Tuesday's report, Best Buy's earnings estimates had jumped almost 4% from $1.30 a share, where they were at the end of the last quarter, to $1.35 a share for the just-ended quarter. But they weren't high enough.

Tuesday, the company delivered adjusted earnings of $1.48 per share on net income of $519 million. Though fourth-quarter revenue was $14.21 billion missed estimates of $14.41 billion, that didn't matter.

Best Buy matched or exceed most metrics that speaks to its underlying health, including a 2% year-over-year increase in total same-store sales, the metric that tracks performances of stores opened at least one year. Analysts were looking for an increase of 1.9%. 

In the U.S., same-store sales rose 2.8% -- the second consecutive quarter of growth after three quarters of decline, supporting even higher stock prices for investors, who have already enjoyed more than 50% stock gains in the past twelve months. 

During that span, not only has Best Buy stock dominated the 16% gains in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) - Get Report,Best Buy shares have outperformed prominent retailers including Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) - Get Report and Whole Foods (WFM) , which are up just 15.39% and 6.87%, respectively.

Best Buy stock -- at a P/E of 13 -- is still trading at a discount to S&P 500 stocks, which carry trailing price-to-earnings ratios 21.5, so investors can still make money if/when the market prices these shares accordingly. 

Combined with its stock buyback program, dividend increase and growing earnings, Best Buy stock looks like a great buy for investors looking for a strong play in retail that is on the verge of a recovery.

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This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.