The TJX Cos. recorded a solid third quarter helped by strong gains in household merchandise led by HomeGoods.
Net income was $1.19 billion, or $1.03 per diluted share, versus $1.06 billion, or 91 cents per diluted share, in the quarter a year prior. The year-prior earnings per share results included an adjustment to 86 cents, the company noted.
An analyst consensus estimate published by Zacks Investment Research called for earnings per diluted share of 97 cents and sales of $13.05 billion.
Comparable sales grew by 6% in the third quarter, with, by division, Marmaxx, including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores, up 7%, HomeGoods up 9%, TJX Canada up 3% and TJX International up 1%.
Net sales increased to $13.27 billion from $12.17 billion in the quarter a year before
Although TJX enjoyed strong demand across category lines, Ernie Herrman, TJX president and CEO, pointed out in a conference call, “Sales for overall home were outstanding, accelerating sequentially versus the second quarter, particularly at HomeGoods.”
In announcing the financial results, Herrman said, “I am extremely pleased with our third-quarter performance and strong execution of our teams as our comp store sales, pretax profit margin and earnings per share all exceeded our expectations. I am particularly pleased with the results at our Marmaxx and HomeGoods divisions, which delivered terrific comp sales increases entirely driven by customer traffic. Customer traffic was up across all divisions, our overall apparel sales remained very strong, and home sales were outstanding and accelerated sequentially versus the second quarter.
“Across our geographies and wide customer demographic, our values and exciting, treasure-hunt shopping experience continued to resonate with consumers,” Herrman continued. “With our above-plan results in the third quarter, we are raising our full year guidance for comp store sales and earnings per share. 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. 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.”
