One for the Couch Potato

You don't need to knock on wood if you're wood furniture specialist Hooker Furniture (Nasdaq: HOFT  ) . The company has survived everything from cheap Asian imports to a surprisingly sluggish furniture market despite the housing boom. Last night, the company announced its 10th consecutive quarter of year-over-year sales growth as margins widened to produce even stronger earnings.

As it wrapped up its fiscal second quarter with sales climbing 14% higher, profits more than doubled for a $0.47 a share showing. While an improving backlog of orders and recently instituted tariffs on Chinese imports may lead to some continued improvement in the near-term, it's obvious that the past hasn't looked too shabby either.

Hooker, named after the family that started the company 80 years ago (so, no, it has never sold hat racks to bordellos), has fared well as an investment, too. The stock is up nearly 50% since being recommended in our Hidden Gems newsletter last summer.

Its product lines are sold through dealers and department store chains like Neiman Marcus (NYSE: NMG.A  ) , Berkshire Hathaway's (NYSE: BRK.A  ) (NYSE: BRK.B  ) Nebraska Furniture Mart, Dillard's (NYSE: DDS  ) , and Gottschalks (NYSE: GOT  ) . The company may be giving up a thin slice of the profits by not selling directly to the consumer, but this is the best way to have a well-entrenched localized sales force all over the country.

The company knows its stuff. One of the attributes that drew Tom Gardner to single out the company last year was that all three of Hooker's primary officers had been with the company for more than 20 years. That doesn't mean that the company is old-fashioned. As an innovator in home theater, the company offers stylish consoles that can pop up to reveal thin plasma TV sets and has a patent-pending design for concealing big screen sets with pocket doors.

Last year's acquisition of upholstered furniture specialist Bradington-Young also helped broaden the company's reach. In sum, the company is upbeat about the current quarter, as it is guiding investors to expect sales growth to come in between 8% and 12%. While that may not be as heady as the previous quarter, it is refreshing to see Hooker confident enough to push its quarterly top-line hike to 11 periods.

Are you ready to upgrade your living room furniture? Is your bedroom missing that one perfect piece? How do you go about remodeling your home and accessorizing to make it just right? All this and more in the Building/Maintaining a Home discussion board. Only on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz doesn't know who invented the chair, but he's always grateful. He does not own shares in any companies mentioned here.