The Winona-based operator of industrial hardware supply stores reported its net income rose to $112.3 million with help from new store openings and the installation of new industrial vending machines. However, second quarter sales failed to meet Wall Street expectations.

Boosted by double-digit sales growth across all of its product lines, Polaris Industries Inc. posted a net income of $94.3 million, a 40 percent jump from $67.6 million in the third quarter a year-ago, the Associated Press reports. The Medina-based all-terrain vehicles maker also lifted its full-year outlook for the third time.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp reported high-than-expected quarterly profit as revenue rose and set aside less money for bad loans. The fifth-largest U.S. commercial bank posted a net income of $1.42 billion in the second-quarter.

Select Comfort Corp.'s shares soared 19 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company reported it beat Wall Street expectations with strong gains in both sales and profits. The Plymouth-based maker of the Sleep Number bed also announced plans to open more stores than originally expected.

Polaris Industries Inc. has set a lofty goal of building a $1 billion business by 2018 with a new fleet of small electric and electric-hybrid cars and trucks. The vehicles feature a 5- or 7-horsepower motor and go about 25 miles per hour, the Business Journal reports (with slideshow).

ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles were selling briskly for Polaris Industries Inc., leading a strong third quarter, company officials said Thursday, the Star Tribune reports. Demand was high for Polaris' all-terrain vehicles and Victory motorcycles in North America, and early demand for snowmobile sales surged where there's always plenty of snow – in Russia and Scandinavia.

St. Paul-based Ecolab posted second quarter sales that jumped 74 percent to $3 billion thanks to its December acquisition of liquid filtration giant Nalco, the Star Tribune reports. Excluding Nalco, sales rose 3 percent during the quarter. All combined, net income jumped an impressive 47 percent to $184.5 million, or 62 cents a share.