Bed Bath & Beyond last year's profits

UNION, N.J.— Bed Bath & Beyond dominates the home and housewares retail space by consistently reporting strong revenue and earnings growth, and this quarter was no exception.

The company reported net earnings of 72 cents per diluted share ($180.6 million) in the fiscal first quarter ended May 28, an increase of approximately 38% versus net earnings of 52 cents per diluted share ($137.6 million) in the same quarter a year ago.

The company reported that net sales for the fiscal first quarter of 2011 were approximately $2.11 billion, an increase of approximately 9.7% from net sales of approximately $1.923 billion reported in the fiscal first quarter of 2010. Net sales beat Wall Street expectations, which called for $2.07 billion in net sales. Comparable-store sales in the fiscal first quarter of 2011 increased by approximately 7%, compared with an increase of approximately 8.4% in last year's fiscal first quarter.

Bed, Bath & Beyond said it now expects earnings per diluted share for the second quarter of 2011to be approximately 77 cents to 82 cents for the fiscal second quarter of 2011 and to increase by approximately 15% to 20% for all of fiscal 2011.

As of May 28, the company had a total of 1,142 stores.