Investing.com - Retailer TJX Companies traded higher on Tuesday after reporting better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and modestly raising its full-year guidance amid growth in customer traffic.
TJX (NYSE:TJX) said it now expects diluted earnings per share for the year ending Feb. 1 2020 to be in the range of $2.56 and $2.61, up from the $2.45 a share the year before. In February, the company said it expected earnings in the range of $2.55 to $2.60 a share.
The slightly improved guidance comes on the back of fiscal first-quarter earnings that topped expectations.
Shares rose 1.1% and are up more than 19% this year after rising 17% in 2018.
The retailer reported earnings of $0.57 a share on revenue of $9.28 billion, slightly ahead of the expectations from Investing.com for earnings of $0.55 share on revenue of of $9.22 billion.
Comparable sales topped expectations, rising 5% thanks to a ramp-up in foot traffic.
"We are in an excellent position to take advantage of the abundant buying opportunities we are seeing in the marketplace for quality, branded merchandise and to keep flowing fresh, exciting assortments to our stores and online," said Chief Executive Ernie Herman in a statement. "We have many initiatives underway to keep driving sales and customer traffic, and feel great about our ability to continue to gain market share around the world."
Following the above-consensus first-quarter results and upgraded guidance, some on Wall Street to continue to back the retailer on expectations for further market share gains and buybacks.
"We also see market gains for TJX from the Dressbarn closing and highlight an attractive yield (1.7%), alongside more share repurchases (we forecast $2.25B in FY 20)," said CFRA, an independent research provider, who also maintained its buy opinion on TJX.
"We keep our 12-month target at $60, a forward P/E of 23.0 times our full-year 2020 (Jan.) estimate of $2.61 (up from $2.58), above the three-year historical forward P/E average," the firm added. The stock was at $53.54 Tuesday afternoon.