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Bed, Bath beyond forecast
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March 30, 2000: 1:23 p.m. ET
Strong sales push domestic goods chain's earnings; 60 new stores set
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Increasing sales and a slew of new stores helped home products retailer Bed, Bath & Beyond post strong earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended Feb. 26.
The company reported fourth-quarter earnings after the bell Wednesday of $48.4 million, or 34 cents a share, up from $34.2 million, or 24 cents a share, a year ago.
Analysts polled by earnings tracker First Call/Thomson Financial had projected 30 cents a share for the latest period.
Sales rose 37 percent to $574.6 million from $419 million a year earlier.
"We were very happy with the quarter. It was probably helped by strong consumer demand and confidence, and the underlying strength of the economy," Kenneth Frankel, the company's director of financial planning, said.
 For the year, Bed Bath & Beyond posted net earnings of $131.2 million, or 91 cents a share, up 34.8 percent from $97.3 million, or 68 cents a share, the prior year.
Officials said the figures mark the eighth consecutive year of record earnings since Bed, Bath & Beyond (BBBY: Research, Estimates) went public in 1992.
The company opened 56 new stores in 1999 and plans to open at least 60 this year, Frankel said.
Shares of the Union, N.J.-based chain, which operates 241 stores nationwide, gained 6-9/16 to 40-1/16, a 20 percent jump, on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange early Thursday afternoon. 
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Bed, Bath & Beyond
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