by Scott Murphy

While the overall stock market has been rewarding for most investors in 2017, the same cannot be said for the retail sector. Amazon has become a “legendary and mythical beast” of sorts and has become the biggest competitive threat for every retailer, placing the stocks of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers on the sale rack. As value investors, we readily acknowledge the magnitude of change in retail but still believe there is a place in our portfolios for a traditional retailer like TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX).

TJX has a leading market position in the off-price retail market. They control 45% of the discount retail market and operate 3,800 stores under the brands TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and HomeSense. In a tough and changing retail environment, TJX has been able to grow its same store sales for twenty one consecutive years. Simply put, they have proven they can grow sales and earnings through good and bad economic times. Many attribute this resilience to their customers’ “treasure hunting” experience.  At TJ Maxx, customers can arrive at the store not knowing exactly what they are looking for, and end up finding something they like at an irresistible price – a “treasure.”  This customer experience and incredibly low prices have largely allowed TJX to defend itself from the industry disruption caused by Amazon.

Therefore, we have begun to initiate positions in this well managed, industry leading discount retailer that has underperformed the market for two straight years. Our expectation is the market will realize they have misjudged the power of this off-price traditional retailer and will become buyers again, boosting the stock price in the process.

Source: FactSet