Dallas, Texas 05/22/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX), an off-price apparel and home fashions retailer, recently reports its financial results for 1Q15 on Tuesday, May 20, 2014. The company reported marginal improvement of 3.12% in its earnings on a year over year basis. Earnings of $0.64 per share were reported for 1Q15 as compared to earnings of $0.62 reported for 1Q14. The marginal increase was attributed to higher consumer traffic, strong comparable store sales growth and improved margins. However, the 1Q15 earnings fell short by 4.5% as Zacks Consensus Estimate was of $0.67 per share mainly because of higher than expected negative foreign currency impact.
Quarterly Highlights:
The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) reported 5% year over year increase in its 1Q15 net sales which were reported at $6.5 billion, slightly lower than Zack Consensus Estimate of $6.6 billion mainly because of lower than expected apparel business sales. The year over year growth was driven by 3% same store sales growth at Home Good and 1% at TJX Europe. Comps growth remained lower than the prior year growth mainly because of negative foreign currency impact and lower discretionary spending by consumers.
The company reported 0.5% year over year decrease in gross margin which was reported at 27.9% for 1Q15 mainly because of aggressive pricing by the company during holiday season and decrease in merchandise margins.
Outlook
Following the first-quarter results, The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TJX) tightened its FY15 outlook with earnings guidance in the range of $3.05 to $3.17 per share as compared to previous earnings outlook of $3.05 to $3.19 per share. This suggests around 8% to 12% earnings growth during FY15 as compared to earnings of $2.83 per share reported during FY14. Comparable store sales are anticipated to grow by 1% to 2%.
Stock Update:
Yesterday, the stock closed at $56.60, gaining 4.91% from its previous close. The stock has lost 10.61% year to date.
