TJX Companies raised its full-year sales and profit forecasts after posting first-quarter earnings and revenue that came in above its own plan, the company said Wednesday.
Against analyst expectations of $1.02 per share, according to Reuters, the Framingham, Massachusetts-based off-price retailer delivered diluted earnings per share of $1.19 for the quarter ended May 2 — a 29% jump from $0.92 in the year-ago period.
Revenue for the quarter came to $14.32 billion, a 9% increase from $13.11 billion in the prior-year period, topping the $14 billion analysts had projected, according to Reuters.
Comparable store sales rose 6% across the company, compared with a 3% gain in the same period last year. The HomeGoods division led all segments with a 9% comparable sales increase, followed by TJX Canada at 7% and Marmaxx — which operates TJ Maxx and Marshalls — at 6%.
First-quarter pretax profit margin was 12.0%, up from 10.3% a year ago. Gross profit margin improved from 29.5% to 31.3%. The company credited better merchandise margins, gains from inventory and fuel hedging contracts, and cost leverage from higher-than-expected sales volumes.
For the full fiscal year 2027, TJX now expects comparable sales growth of 3% to 4%, up from its earlier forecast of 2% to 3%. The company also raised its guidance for diluted EPS to $5.08 to $5.15, compared to the previous range of $4.93 to $5.02. The pretax profit margin outlook was also increased to 11.9% to 12.0%.
TJX said it is not passing through the full benefit of its first-quarter outperformance to its full-year outlook, noting that it now assumes higher fuel costs will weigh on profit margin and earnings for the rest of the year.
TJX also expanded its share repurchase authorization for the fiscal year, setting a new target of $2.75 billion to $3.0 billion versus the $2.50 billion to $2.75 billion it had previously planned. During the first quarter, TJX returned $1.1 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends.
For the second quarter of fiscal 2027, TJX said it expects comparable sales growth of 2% to 3% and pretax profit margin of 11.4% to 11.5%.
TJX ended the quarter with 5,262 stores across all its banners worldwide, up from 5,214 at the start of the period.
