United States-HJ Heinz beat expectations on quarterly profits.

H.J. Heinz Co., the world’s biggest ketchup maker, posted third-quarter profit that exceeded estimates and affirmed its full-year forecast as Americans sought home-cooked meals in a "meatloaf and mashed potatoes" economy.

Net income rose 11 percent to $242.3 million, or 76 cents a share, from a year earlier, the Pittsburgh-based company said today in a statement. Analysts had anticipated profit of 65 cents, the average of 10 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The maker of Ore-Ida frozen potatoes and Bagel Bites resisted matching competitors’ discounts in categories such as frozen entrees and raised prices 8 percent. That increase helped counter the strengthening dollar’s drain on overseas sales and an 11 percent rise in costs for packaging, tomatoes and potatoes.

"There’s been a wall of worry reflected in this stock," Edgar Roesch, an analyst at Soleil Securities in New York, said today in an interview. "We see some relief because operations have not slowed as much as feared."

Heinz increased $1.80, or 5.6 percent, to $33.77 at 4:04 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 10 percent this year.

Sales in the quarter ended Jan. 28 fell 7.5 percent to $2.41 billion, in part because people ate the food they had on hand rather than buy more, as well as because of foreign- exchange rates, Heinz said. It gets about half its revenue outside North America.