TJX Reports Stronger 1Q Profit, Sales But Tepid View

T.J. Maxx and Marshalls parent TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter sales but said current-quarter and full-year EPS could fall below analyst forecasts.

The Framingham, Mass.-based off-priced retailer reported net income of $453 million, or 62 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $419.2 million, or 55 cents, meeting average analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll.

Revenue for the three months ended May 4 increased 7% to $6.2 billion from $5.8 billion a year ago, narrowly beating the Street’s view of $6.17 billion.

Same-store sales, a key growth metric for retailers, edged up 2% on top of an 8% improvement last year.

“We believe the flexibility of our business model allowed us to achieve this growth despite the unfavorable weather patterns across most of our regions for much of the quarter,” TJX CEO Carol Meyrowitz said in a statement.

The second quarter, she added, is off to a strong start and TJX remains “very confident” in the long term that it will be able to accelerate sales and profitability growth.

However, TJX sees current-quarter and full-year EPS falling mostly below Wall Street expectations.

For the second quarter, it anticipates EPS in the range of 61 cents to 63 cents, which would represent a 9% to 13% improvement over last year’s 56 cents a share but could fall below the consensus view of 63 cents.

For the full year ended Feb. 2014, TJX expects to earn $2.70 to $2.78 a share, above last year’s adjusted EPS of $2.47 but below the Street’s view of $2.82.

Shares of TJX in early trade ticked slightly lower to $51.