Shares in TJX Cos Inc (NYSE:TJX), the parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, gathered pace Tuesday after the discount retailer posted fiscal second-quarter revenue and same-store sales that whizzed past Wall Street’s expectations.
The company’s net income in the three months ended August 4 came in at US$739.6mln or US$1.17 per share, up from US$552.96mln or US$0.85 in the year-ago period. Its revenue, meanwhile, climbed to US$9.33bn, up from US$8.36bn in the year-ago quarter.
In response, investors sent TJX shares up 3% to US$104.77 in the morning trading session.
The results easily topped the expectations of Wall Street, which had forecast per-share earnings of US$1.05 on sales of US$9bn.
The company also posted a 6% jump in same-store sales, crushing the 2.1% rise that analysts had penciled in.
“Customer traffic was once again the primary driver of our [comparative] store sales increases at all of our divisions as we continue to reach a very wide customer demographic,” said CEO Ernie Herrman in a statement.
Establishing its niche as a discount retailer, TJX has fared far better than traditional department stores which have been forced to shut stores and pursue more business online to compete with the likes of Amazon.com and other internet retail outlets.
Looking ahead, the retailer also increased its full-year profit forecast to US$4.10 to US$4.14 on an adjusted basis. For the third quarter, the company expects adjusted EPS in the range of US$1.00 to US$1.02.
In the quarter, TJX opened 53 stores to bring its total number of outlets across Canada, Australia, Europe and the US to 4,194 stores.
Contact Ellen Kelleher at ellen@proactiveinvestors.com