The TJX Companies, Inc.

The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX - Snapshot Report) posted April sales of $1.43 billion, up 1% on a year-over-year basis. Consolidated comparable store sales increased by 3%. The company upped its earnings guidance on strong sales, calling for a first-quarter earnings range of 47 to 49 cents per share. Analysts responded by boosting the average earnings projection from 39 cents to 49 cents in just 1 week.

Company Description

The TJX Companies is a discount retailers, selling apparel and home fashions worldwide. The Company operates 882 T.J. Maxx, 809 Marshalls, 322 HomeGoods, and 140 A.J. Wright stores in the United States. In Canada, the Company operates 203 Winners, 75 HomeSense and 3 STYLESENSE stores, and in Europe, 238 T.K. Maxx and 8 HomeSense stores.

Robust Sales

The company posted April sales of $1.43 billion, up 1% on a year-over-year basis. Consolidated comparable store sales increased by 3%.

President and Chief Executive Officer Carol Meyrowitz said, “We are very pleased that customer traffic has continued to increase significantly across virtually all of our brands, which led to April comparable store sales increasing by 3%, above our expectations. This was achieved on top of strong performance last year and despite one less selling day in April this year due to the Easter calendar shift. We attribute the strength in our business to the extreme value that we are offering customers on rapidly turning assortments of great brand names and fashions.”

After delivering above-plan sales in February and March, the company upped its earnings guidance on strong April sales, calling for a first-quarter earnings range of 47 to 49 cents per share. Analysts responded by boosting the average earnings projection from 39 cents to 49 cents in just 1 week.

For the current year, analysts are forecasting earnings of $1.97 per share, up from last week’s $1.91. Analysts are projecting earnings of $2.14 per share for the following year. A week ago, estimates stood at $2.09.

Industry-leading Stats

TJX’s return on equity (ROE) of 41% more than doubles the industry average of 16%. The company’s net profit margin of 5% tops the industry average of 3%. TJX pays an annual dividend of 44 cents per share, yielding an industry-leading 1.6%.