(Reuters) – TJX Cos Inc on Wednesday beat market estimates for quarterly net sales, as the easing of COVID-19 restrictions prompted Americans to return to the retail chain’s brick-and-mortar discount apparel stores.
Off-price retailers including TJX’s T.J. Maxx and Burlington Stores Inc weathered a tough past year when the pandemic shuttered the economy as the sector relies heavily on the treasure-hunt shopping experience it offers and accelerated a shift to e-commerce.
However, discount stores rebounded rather swiftly this year due to pent-up demand from customers who are armed with stimulus checks and child tax credit payments.
The company’s net income came in at $785.7 million, or 64 cents per share, in the second quarter ended July 31, compared with a loss of $214.2 million, or 18 cents per share, a year earlier.
Net sales rose to $12.08 billion from $6.67 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had projected net sales of $11.04 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam and Mehr Bedi in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Maju Samuel)
