Late-Quarter Sales Strength Lifts Tweeter

High-end electronics retailer

Tweeter Home Entertainment

(TWTR) - Get Report

soared Thursday after it said second-quarter sales at stores open at least a year fell only 6.7% as customer traffic picked up last month, overcoming some of the weakness of January and February.

"After announcing negative comp-store sales of 8.5% at the end of February for the first two months of the quarter, our sales trend improved markedly in March," Tweeter's chief executive, Jeffrey Stone, said in a statement.

Tweeter said total sales in the quarter rose 57.5% to $186 million from $118 million a year ago.

Before

lowering its expectations in February, Tweeter originally thought same-store sales would be flat for the fiscal second quarter. Along with taking down its sales estimates, the company said earnings would come in between 10 cents and 12 cents a share, below analysts' expectations for a profit of 21 cents a share. The company is scheduled to report earnings on April 25.

Shares of Tweeter closed up $1.79, or 9.3%, at $21.01. After falling 29% on news of the sales and earnings warning in February, Tweeter has recaptured much of that lost ground.

"We continue to see strength in new technology products as they comprise an increasing percentage of our overall product mix," Chief Financial Officer Joe McGuire said in a statement. Tweeter plans to open 13 stores and relocate three shops in the second half of the year.

Earlier in the week, consumer electronics retailers

Circuit City

(CC) - Get Report

and

Best Buy

(BBY) - Get Report

posted earnings that were

in line with estimates.