TJX Cos. (NYSE: TJX) - parent of the T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods, and Marshalls chains of discount retailers - said this morning that third-quarter profit jumped 13% to $249.5 million, or 54 cents per share. This figure was a penny shy of analysts' consensus estimate of 55 cents. Revenue rose 6% during the 3-month reporting period to $4.74 billion from $4.47 billion in the year-ago period. Same-store sales jumped 3%. This headline number also failed to meet Street expectations of $4.79 billion.
Company president/CEO Carol Meyrowitz was quoted by Dow Jones as noting that while warm fall weather curbed demand slightly, "as the weather cooled towards the end of the quarter, we saw a strong surge in sales and demand for cold weather apparel."
The silver lining surrounding today's negative earnings surprise was a positive guidance for the fourth quarter. Earnings per share are expected to range from 58 cents to 60 cents, up from the retailer's previous guidance of 57 cents to 59 cents. This newly projected range surrounds analysts' consensus estimate of 59 cents. For 2007, TJX expects to bank between $1.86 and $1.88 per share, on same-store sales growth of 4%.
The future trumps the present as far as shareholders are concerned, as TJX has tacked on more than 3% so far today. From a technical perspective, TJX is seeing its 10-day moving average encroach upon the stock's 20-day trendline. A bullish crossover of these trendlines could bode well for the shares in the short term.
Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
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