Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) shares are trading higher after releasing its fourth-quarter earnings report.

The company reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of $1.20, beating estimates by 9 cents. Sales came in at $3. 31 billion, missing estimates by $20 million.

Bed Bath & Beyond issued full-year earnings guidance ahead of estimates and raised its dividend from 16 cents to 17 cents per share. However, the company sees first-quarter adjusted earnings of 7-12 cents, which may not compare to the 29-cent estimate.

"During the fourth quarter and throughout fiscal 2018, we have been driving significant foundational change across our business," said CEO Steven Temares.

"The pace of our transformation accelerated during fiscal 2018 and we made measurable progress within each of our four focus areas of our plan. While this is a multiyear effort, our Board and management team are confident that the actions underway to drive our near-term and long-term financial targets will enable Bed Bath & Beyond to succeed and drive shareholder value.

"In fiscal 2019, we are modeling our operating profit, even including the investments in initiatives, to stabilize, and earnings per share to grow slightly, and for both to accelerate thereafter, as the impact from many of our key initiatives grows and we take advantage of the significant operating leverage of our business."

Highlights

• Comp sales declined 1.4 percent
• Net sales decreased 11 percent year-over-year
• 5.2 million shares repurchased worth $78 million

Bed Bath & Beyond's stock closed Wednesday's session at $19.41 per share, up 5 percent on the day. Shares spiked following the after-hours release and traded around $19.74 at time of publication. Shares dropped more than 5 percent after the company released updated its updated guidance figures around 4:37 p.m. ET.

Photo by Raysonho/Wikimedia.