Herbalife Ltd. said late Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit jumped thanks to double-digit sales growth in several of the company’s largest markets.

Herbalife reported net income of $53.8 million (77 cents per share), a 29 percent increase from $41.7 million (56 cents) for the same period a year earlier, beating Wall Street’s expectations of 73 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, estimated earnings of 73 cents per share.

Sales for the Los Angeles-based supplement and vitamin maker rose 19 percent to $578 million, beating analysts’ estimates of $537 million. There was a 22 percent hike in U.S. sales, as well as increases of 19 percent in Taiwan, 22 percent in Italy and 146 percent in China.

The company also said the total number of sales leaders grew 16 percent to 473,846 during the quarter. Sales leaders are qualifying supervisors in 64 countries as well as sales employees in China.

For the full year, profit rose 34 percent to $192 million ($2.63 per share), while sales grew 14 percent to $2.15 billion.

Shares in Herbalife gained 2.6 percent to $43.89 in early trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.