Bed Bath & Beyond: S&P Gainer

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bed Bath & Beyond(BBBY) was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500 Thursday morning.

The S&P was down 1.55 points, or 0.11%, to 1,397.41.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond rose 7.17% to $70.98. The retailer's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts' expectations.

Bed Bath & Beyond reported earnings of $351 million, or $1.48 a share, up from year-earlier earnings of $283.5 million, or $1.12 a share. Analysts were anticipating profit of $1.33 a share..

Bed Bath & Beyond has an estimated price-to-earnings ratio for next year of 13.91 times; the average for specialty retailers is 16.43. For comparison, Williams-Sonoma(WSM) and Mattress Firm Holdings(MFRM) have higher forward P/Es of 14.01 and 28.62, respectively.

Sixteen of the 29 analysts who cover Bed Bath & Beyond rated it buy. Twelve analysts gave the stock a hold rating and one rated it sell.

TheStreet Ratings gives Bed Bath & Beyond an A grade with a buy rating and a $81.80 price target. The stock has risen 22.43% year to date.