By Michael Dabaie

TJX Cos. shares were up 5% to $72.50 in afternoon trading after quarterly earnings came in above analyst expectations.

The apparel and home fashions retailer before the market open reported second -quarter net sales rose 81% to $12.1 billion, better than FactSet consensus for $11 billion. In the year-ago quarter, stores were closed for 31% of the quarter due to Covid-19.

Overall open-only comp store sales increased 20%. TJX says that due to the temporary closing of stores from the pandemic, it has been temporarily reporting the new open-only comp store sales measure.

Earnings per share were 64 cents, beating FactSet consensus for 59 cents.

TJX estimated temporary store closures for about 3% of the quarter hit earnings per share by 5 cents to 7 cents, based on its estimates of negative impact to sales of $300 million to $350 million. Stores in the U.S. were open for the entire second quarter, while Canadian stores were closed 22% of the quarter, stores in Europe were closed 2% of the quarter, and stores in Australia were closed for 18% of the quarter.

"Sales are very strong as we start the third quarter, with overall open-only comp store sales up mid-teens. While the environment remains uncertain, particularly with the Delta variant, we are convinced that TJX is in a position of strength. We see numerous opportunities to continue to gain market share and improve our profitability in the medium to longer term," Chief Executive Ernie Herrman said in the company's earnings release.

"We are convinced that our sales growth and profit in the second quarter demonstrate that we are capturing profitable market share. We are confident that many of our loyal customers have returned to our stores and are shopping us more frequently," Mr. Herrman said during the company's conference call.

TJX passed on giving financial guidance, citing continued uncertainty.

TJX boosted its expectations for buybacks in fiscal 2022. The retailer said it now expects to repurchase about $1.25 billion to $1.5 billion of stock, up $250 million versus its prior plan.

Write to Michael Dabaie at michael.dabaie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-18-21 1337ET