On Wednesday, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. reported much higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, hinting that the demand for home furnishing is improving. The company has now predicted that its complete year results will most probably beat estimates pegged by Wall Street.

In after hours trading, on back of the news, shares of the company hiked by more than 7%.

Bed Bath & Beyond's strong performance has joined similar reports by other furniture and home goods companies like Williams-Sonoma and Pier 1 Imports Inc.

For the financial year's third-quarter, i. e., three months up-to November 28, the company reported a rise in net earnings of about 73% to $151.3 Million, or 58 cents per share, as compared to the earnings of $87.7 Million, or 34 cents a share, posted last year for the same period.

Analysts on an average had estimated a profit of 43 cents per share.

"With the holiday shopping season now behind us, we are cautiously optimistic about the balance of fiscal 2009", said Chief Financial Officer Eugene Castagna.

A 10.8% rise in sales was reported to $1.98 Billion.