TJX, Target and other discounters exceed expectations in February

New York City Shoppers didn’t let the snow and cold weather in February get in the way of their hunt for bargains. Many discount retailers reported better-than-expected same-store sales for the month.

TJX Cos. said its same-store sales in February rose 10% as shoppers continued to seek out value-priced items. Its results beat analysts’ expectations.

“We believe that value is more important to consumers than ever before," president and CEO Carol Meyrowitz said in a statement.

Total sales for the four weeks ended Feb. 27 rose 16 percent to $1.4 billion. Last month TJX said its fourth-quarter profit surged 58% and discussed plans to expand, saying it could eventually double in size.

At Target, same-store sales rose 2.4% in February sales. Results beat Target's expectations of a flat to slight rise in the sales figure. Analysts had expected a 1% increase. Food and household essentials remained the biggest sellers with furniture and apparel sales about flat with last year.

The company expects April sales in stores open at least one year to be up in the mid- to upper-single digits because of an earlier Easter.

In other results:

• Family Dollar reported a 3.6% rise in same-store sales for the second quarter ended Feb. 27. Total sales rose 4.9% to $2.09 billion from $1.99 billion last year.

• At Fred's, sales climbed 2% in February, better than the 0.3% decline that analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast. Total sales for the period ended Feb. 27 increased 3% to $150.7 million.

• Off-price retailer Ross Stores reported an 11% increase in February same-store sales. Sales increased 16% to $554 million for the four weeks ended February 27, 2010, up from $476 million for the four weeks ended February 28, 2009.