TJX's Stock Surges After Profit, Sales Beat Expectations

TJX Cos.'s stock surged 5.4% in active premarket trade Tuesday, after the apparel and home furnishings retailer reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter profit and sales. For the quarter ended Oct. 31, earnings came to $583.3 million, or 86 cents a share, compared with $595 million, or 85 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. That beat the FactSet earnings-per-share consensus of 84 cents. Sales rose to $7.75 billion from $7.37 billion, just above the FactSet consensus of $7.73 billion, while same-store sales growth of 5% was well above expectations of a 3.9% increase. For the fourth quarter, the company expects EPS of 91 cents to 93 cents, which includes costs associated with the acquisition of Trade Secret that was not included in its previous outlook. The stock has lost 4.3% year to date, while the S&P 500 has eased 0.3%.