TJX posts flat same-store sales, may miss outlook

NEW YORK (Reuters) - TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday that March sales at stores open at least one year were unchanged and that quarterly profit could come in slightly lower than it had expected.

Analysts on average had been expecting the off-price retailer to post a same-store sales rise of 1.4 percent from the year-earlier period, according to Reuters Estimates.

The early Easter holiday, along with unusually cold weather, led to lower-than-expected March same-store sales, TJX said in a statement.

The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company, which operates the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains, said total sales for the five weeks ended on April 5 rose 2 percent to $1.73 billion from $1.7 billion a year earlier.

TJX, like other off-price retailers, buys excess merchandise in bulk, below wholesale prices.

The company said its inventories were in "excellent shape," and it was beginning to see sales trends improve in certain areas where the weather was turning more seasonable.

TJX said earnings from continuing operations in its first quarter, which began on January 27, might reach the low end of its previous forecast of 40 cents to 41 cents a share or fall slightly below it.

For April, the company said in a recorded call that it expected consolidated same-store sales to increase 6 percent to 7 percent.

(Reporting by Nicole Maestri and Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by Derek Caney and Lisa Von Ahn)