Air mattress buoys Select Comfort results.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Select Comfort has made a strong turnaround, in part by proving consumers will pay big bucks if you can promise them a better night's sleep. The company, which started off as a phone-order business, has rapidly added retail space (including 18 store-within-a-store units at Bed, Bath & Beyond) and successfully parleyed it into strong camps (up 38% in the most recent 4Q and 27% for FY'02).

The results derive from the company's comfort adjustable, air chamber beds, which are marketed to consumers as a way to a better night's sleep, said Keith Spurgeon, Select Comfort's senior vp of sales. "It all starts with a differentiated, terrific product," he said. "We've got a better mousetrap."

In February, Select Comfort posted fully diluted after-tax earnings per share of 15 cents for the 4Q of FY'02, above its previously announced guidance of 10 cents to 12 cents per share, and compared with 4Q '01 pro forma after-tax earnings of 3 cents per share. The quarter was the sixth straight in which Select Comfort posted a profit after closing the '90s with some rocky results. Net sales in the quarter advanced 33% to $92.3 million. In the 2002 fiscal year, ended Dec. 28, after-tax earnings were 37 cents per share on …