Two leading electronic retailers – Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) and Radio Shack (NYSE: RSH) – both posted some news today. Best Buy’s directors approved an increase in the company’s quarterly cash dividend from 17 cents to 19 cents per share, an increase of 12 percent. Radio Shack, by contrast, said its first-quarter loss widened to $98.3 million as sales fell for the ninth straight quarter.

Even though the two companies are in the same basic industry, their paths have diverged in recent years. Best Buy has increased its visibility in the 21^st century, while Radio Shack, from the name on down, seems like a company that is stuck in the past.

Of course, retail in general has been hammered in this Amazon-dominated era, which may have caused some investors to shy away from all the stocks in this segment. Best Buy fell sharply early this year due to some disappointing earnings and has yet to fully recover. But the dividend announcement may indicate that the company has turned a corner.

Hubert Joly, Best Buy president and CEO, remarked, “Our decision to increase the amount of cash we are returning to shareholders is indicative of our improved cash position and our confidence in the cash-generating power of our multi-channel business model.”  Best Buy last announced a dividend increase in June 2012, when the board raised the dividend from 16 to 17 cents a share.

Best Buy has been growing its mobile phone division through its regular stores and its Best Buy Mobile locations. Computing and mobile accounted for almost 50 percent of total revenue last quarter.

The firm has also been increasing its efforts in the area of large appliances. Most consumers still prefer to buy these items in a brick-and-mortar store rather than online. Appliance sales account for 7 percent of Best Buy’s total sales in the United State.

The company’s most recent earnings report, for the first quarter of 2014, showed continued progress. From a financial perspective, Best Buy delivered just over $9 billion in revenue and a better-than-expected $0.33 in earnings per share. As expected, domestic comparable sales declined somewhat, in a context where sales in the consumer electronics industry continued to decline.

Nevertheless, the company achieved market share gains in the U.S., fueled by improved price competitiveness and an enhanced customer experience focused on advice and convenience. Operating income improved by 30 basis points.

Joly commented, “Beyond our financial results, we made progress against our three business imperatives, which are to improve our operational performance; build our foundational capabilities to unlock future growth strategies; and leverage the firm’s unique assets to create a differentiated value proposition that is meaningful to our customers and our vendors. This progress included (1) leveraging our new ship-from-store and digital marketing capabilities to help drive a 29% increase in Domestic comparable online sales; (2) announcing new home theater stores-within-a-store vendor partnerships with Samsung and Sony; (3) launching new mobile installment billing programs; and (4) increasing our annualized Renew Blue cost reductions by $95 million.”

Management is still expecting to see ongoing industry-wide sales declines in many of the consumer electronics categories in which Best Buy competes. There may be temporary softness in the mobile phone category as well, as consumers await highly-anticipated new product launches. Consequently, absent any major product launches, the firm is expecting comparable sales to be negative in the low-single digits in both the second and third quarters.

But some consumers may have been delaying relatively inessential electronics purchases and upgrades while waiting to see what happens with the economy. The good economic news of late should have an impact on retailing generally, and the electronics business in particular. If Radio Shack – which is being described as a “zombie” company after today’s dismal earnings news – continues its slide, Best Buy could pick up a substantial amount of market share fairly easily.

Best Buy’s market cap is now in excess of $10 billion, and its price-earnings ratio is quite reasonable at around 9. Following its steep drop in January, the share price has made slow but steady upward progress.

While online retailing is clearly the wave of the future, the familiarity and convenience of local stores should enable at least some of them to survive. Best Buy seems to have the formula figured out better than its key rivals. Best Buy is a buy below 32.