TJX: 3rd Quarter Sales Increased by 5 Percent to $7.8 Billion

The TJX Companies, Inc., with its world-wide headquarters in Framingham, beat Wall Street expectations when it announced its third uqarter earnings on Tuesday.

Net sales for the third quarter of Fiscal 2016, which ended on Oct. 31, increased by 5 percent to $7.8 billion.

Store sales increase by 5 percent.

“I am extremely pleased with our third quarter performance as our momentum continued,” said Carol Meyrowitz, Chair& Chief Executive Officer of The TJX Companies, Inc. “ Our 5 percent consolidated comparable store sales growth, over a 2 percent increase last year, continued our excellent trend from the first two quarters and significantly exceeded our plans.”

Meyrowitz will step down in January. Framingham resident Ernie Herrman will be the new CEO.

Net income for the third quarter was $587 million and diluted earnings per share were $.86 versus $.85, the year before, according to a press release.

For the first nine months of Fiscal 2016, net sales were $22 billion, a 6 percent increase over last year, and consolidated comparable store sales increased 5 percent.

Net income for the first nine months of Fiscal 2016 was $1.6 billion.

“Our $.86 in earnings per share was also well above our expectations,” said the CEO.

“We are delighted that strong customer traffic drove our entire consolidated comp and was the primary driver of our comp increases at every division. Our excellent traffic gains and strong performance across our apparel, accessories and home categories, demonstrate that our brands globally are offering the right values and merchandise mix,” said Meyrowitz.

“Again this quarter, we saw strong sales at every division. I am particularly pleased with our ability to simultaneously deliver exceptional value to consumers while maintaining strong merchandise margins, which speaks to the flexibility of our off-price business model. Our goal is to keep serving consumers and growing our market share around the world. To that end, we continue to balance growth with investments in our future to establish a strong foundation in the U.S. and internationally,” said the CEO.

The company raised its comparable sales growth forecast for the year ending January, indicating they expect to see many shoppers in their TJX, Marshalls and Home Goods stores over the holiday season.

“As to the fourth quarter, we are pleased to see that traffic continues to be up and we could not be more excited about the holiday selling season. I am convinced that our gift-giving selections are better than ever this year and that our holiday marketing campaigns will resonate with consumers and attract more shoppers to our stores. With our clear vision for global growth, a differentiated apparel and home fashions business, and world-class organization, I am very confident we will grow TJX to a $40 billion-plus company,” said Metrowitz.

TJX has been the world’s No.1 apparel and footwear retailer by revenue since 2007, according to Euromonitor.

“Further, we were happy to add Trade Secret, an Australian off-price retailer, to our family of companies,” said the CEO.