TJX POSTS SALES AND EARNINGS INCREASES FOR SECOND QUARTER
Leading off-price retail giant The TJX Companies, Inc, owner of TJ Maxx and Marshalls, has announced sales and earnings results for the second quarter ended July 29, 2017. Net sales for the second quarter increased 6 percent to $8.4 billion and consolidated comparable store sales increased 3 percent. Net income for the second quarter was $553 million and diluted earnings per share were $.85, versus the prior year’s $.84.
For the first half of Fiscal 2018, net sales were $16.1 billion, a 5 percent increase over last year. Consolidated comparable store sales for the first half of Fiscal 2018 increased 2 percent. Net income for the first half of Fiscal 2018 was $1.1 billion. Diluted earnings per share were $1.67, a 4 percent increase over the prior year’s $1.60.
In addition, the company increased its store count by 51 stores to a total of 3,913 stores during the second quarter.
“I am very pleased with our strong second quarter results,” said Ernie Herman, the company’s CEO and president. “Customer traffic was up and was the primary driver of our comp store sales growth at every division and overall merchandise margin was up, which we see as excellent indicators of the fundamental strength, consistency and flexibility of our business. In addition, we are confident that we are gaining market share at each of our four major divisions. Looking ahead, we see exciting opportunities for our business in the second half of the year.”
Indeed, for the third quarter of Fiscal 2018, the company expects diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $.98 to $1.00, which would represent an 18 to 20 percent increase over the prior year’s EPS of $.83, while for the 53-week fiscal year ending February 3, 2018, the company now expects diluted earnings per share in the range of $3.89 to $3.93, which represents a 12 to 14 increase over the prior year’s EPS of $3.46.
