TJX posts strong quarter; holiday season off to ‘great start’

The TJX Cos. reported earnings, sales and comps that topped Street estimates and raised its full-year guidance for the third time this year.

The off-price giant noted that customer traffic was up across all divisions amid “very strong” overall apparel sales and “outstanding” home sales.

“The fourth quarter is off to a strong start, and we are pursuing the plentiful deals we are seeing for great brands and great fashions in the marketplace,” stated CEO and president Errnie Herrman. “We are strongly positioned as a shopping destination for gifts this holiday selling season and are convinced that our values and fresh shipments to our stores and online throughout the season will be a major draw again this year.”

TJX’s net income rose to $1.19 billion, with earnings per share of $1.03, in the quarter ended Oct. 31, up from $1.06 billion, or $0.91 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings came to $1.03 a share, topping analysts’ estimates of  $0.99 a share.

Net sales rose 9% to $13.3 billion, ahead of estimates of $13.1 billion. Total comparable store sales rose 6%.

By division, comparable sales were up 7% at Marmaxx (includes T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s) and 9% at HomeGoods, with the increases entirely driven by customer traffic, the company said. Both increases were more than analysts had expected.

“Going forward, we continue to see excellent opportunities to grow sales and customer traffic, capture market share, and drive the profitability of our company, Herman said. 

For the third time this year, TJX raised its full-year guidance. It now expects comparable store sales to rise 4% to 5%, compared to its previous range of up 3% to 4%. It expects earnings per share will be in the range of $3.71 to $3.74, compared to a previous range of $3.66 to $3.72. 

During the third quarter, the company increased its store count by 50 stores to a total of 4,934 locations in nine countries: the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands and Australia. These include 1,317 T.J. Maxx, 1,196 Marshalls, 914 HomeGoods, 90 Sierra, and 54 Homesense stores in the U.S.; 302 Winners, 157 Homesense, and 106 Marshalls stores in Canada; 641 T.K. Maxx and 79 Homesense stores in Europe; and 78 T.K. Maxx stores in Australia.