Sometimes, the market cares more about how much you keep than how much you make. That seems to be the lesson from Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY)'s latest earnings report, which sent shares sharply higher on Tuesday. The electronics retailer delivered a profit beat and showed investors it's getting a lot more efficient at turning sales into cash, even as the top line came in a bit soft.

Here's the headline that got everyone excited: operating income. It didn't just grow; it exploded. Best Buy reported $721 million in operating income for the fourth quarter, up from $217 million a year ago. That's a more than threefold increase. The operating margin tells the same story of efficiency, jumping to 5.2% from just 1.6%. For a company in a competitive retail sector, that kind of margin expansion is like finding a hidden turbo button.

The bottom line beat expectations, with adjusted earnings per share coming in at $2.61, ahead of the $2.47 analysts were looking for. Revenue, at $13.814 billion, was a slight miss against the expected $13.877 billion. But investors clearly decided the profit performance was the more important signal.

On a conference call, CEO Corie Barry gave shareholders another piece of good news, albeit one with a legal twist. She said a recent Supreme Court ruling has, for now, lowered the company's effective tariff rate on the products it sells. In the world of retail, where every basis point of cost matters, that's a welcome bit of relief.

Digging into the segments, the story was one of stability. Total enterprise revenue was down slightly from $13.948 billion a year ago to $13.814 billion. The domestic business, which makes up the bulk of sales, saw revenue slip to $12.575 billion from $12.715 billion, with the gross profit rate holding steady at 20.9%. The international segment saw a small revenue increase to $1.239 billion.

"Our comparable sales, while within our guidance range, declined 0.8% compared to last year," Barry said, addressing the softer top line. "Our data sources show our overall market share was at least flat, pointing to slightly softer customer demand for our industry during the holiday quarter."

But the company isn't standing still. Barry highlighted strategic growth areas, noting, "We also launched and scaled our U.S. digital Marketplace, drastically increasing our available product count for our customers, and grew Best Buy Ads, almost doubling the number of ad partners compared to the prior year."

With the strong operational performance, Best Buy is putting its cash to work for shareholders. The board approved a 1% increase in the regular quarterly cash dividend, raising it to 96 cents per share. Looking ahead, the company expects to spend roughly $300 million on buying back its own stock during the next fiscal year.

The market's verdict was clear. Best Buy shares were up sharply, a sign that in a challenging environment, demonstrating control over costs and profits can be just as powerful as posting blockbuster sales.