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The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX)

Q4 2017 Earnings Call· Wed, Feb 22, 2017

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to The TJX Companies' Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2017 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. And as a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I would like to turn the call over to your host, Mr. Ernie Herrman, Chief Executive Officer and President of The TJX Companies, Incorporated. Please go ahead, sir.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Thanks, Franco. Before we begin, I'd like to congratulate Deb McConnell on the recent birth of her son. As Deb is on maternity leave, Jeff Botte will start us off with some opening comments.

Jeff Botte - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Thank you, Ernie, and good morning. The forward-looking statements we make today about the company's results and plans are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause the actual results and the implementation of the company's plans to vary materially. These risks are discussed in the company's SEC filings including, without limitation, the Form 10-K filed March 29, 2016. Further, these comments and the Q&A that follows are copyrighted today by The TJX Companies, Inc. Any recording, retransmission, reproduction or other use of the same for profit or otherwise without prior consent of TJX is prohibited and a violation of United States copyright and other laws. Additionally, while we have approved the publishing of a transcript of this call by a third-party, we take no responsibility for inaccuracies that may appear in that transcript. Please note that the financial results and expectations we discuss today are on a continuing-operations basis. Also, we have detailed the impact of foreign exchange on our consolidated results and our international divisions in today's press release in the Investor section of our website, TJX.com. Reconciliations of the non-GAAP measures we discuss today to GAAP measures are posted on our website, TJX.com, in the Investor section. Thank you and now I'll turn it back over to Ernie.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Good morning. Joining me and Jeff on the call is Scott Goldenberg. I'd like to begin by saying that 2016 was another terrific year for TJX. Net sales increased 7% over last year's 6% increase. Consolidated comp store sales were up a strong 5%, above our plan and over a 5% increase last year. Adjusted earnings per share were $3.53, also above our expectations. We are convinced that we are gaining market share around the globe, as customer traffic was the primary driver of comp sales at every major division for the year. Clearly, our differentiated mix of great fashions and brands at amazing values continues to resonate with consumers. We were also very pleased with the excellent performance across our apparel, accessories and home businesses in 2016. We celebrated 40 years as a company in 2016. We are proud of our long, consistent history of sales and profit growth and successful expansion of our off-price concept across the U.S. and around the world. Over four decades, we have had an annual comparable store sales decline in only one year. Further, 2016 marked our 21st consecutive year of comp sales increases. We believe our long track record of consistency and growth is a testament to the people in our organization and our ability to leverage the power of our flexible business model through many types of economic and retail environments, and in many different geographies. We are pleased to finish 2016 with above-plan results in the fourth quarter. Net sales increased 6% and comp sales grew 3%, over a very strong 6% increase last year. Once again, customer traffic drove the comp increase and our merchandise margin was up. Earnings per share were $1.03, significantly above our expectations. We believe our continued sales, traffic and merchandise margin growth speaks to the fundamental strength of our business. Looking ahead, we feel great about our prospects for growth in the near and long-term in building on our market share. We have many initiatives underway to drive sales and customer traffic. We are confident we will achieve our goals, and as always, we will strive to exceed them. In 2016, we surpassed $33 billion in sales, which gives us great confidence as we continue to grow TJX as the only major international off-price retailer in the world. Before I continue, I'll turn the call over to Scott to recap our fourth quarter and our full-year numbers.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Thanks, Ernie, and good morning, everyone. We have a lot to share on this call and want to leave enough time for your questions, so in the interest of time, I am not going to repeat many of the numbers in the press release and will instead focus on the financial highlights. We are very pleased that our sales and traffic momentum continued in the fourth quarter. Again, our 3% comp was over a 6% last year and above our plan. Further, our comp was driven by traffic again this quarter. As a reminder, this comp excludes our e-commerce businesses. Diluted earnings per share were $1.03 versus last year's $0.99, well above our expectations. It was great to see strong EPS flow through on the above-plan sales. EPS growth was negatively impacted by 3% due to wage increases and 5% due to foreign currency and transactional foreign exchange. Merchandise margin was up significantly again in the fourth quarter. At the end of the fourth quarter, consolidated inventories on a per store basis, including inventories held in warehouses but excluding in-transit and e-commerce inventories, were down 4% on a constant-currency basis. We begin a new year with excellent liquidity and are well-positioned to flow fresh spring fashions and selections to our stores. Now to recap our fourth quarter performance by division. Marmaxx comp increased a strong 3% over a 6% increase last year. Once again, customer traffic was the primary driver of the comp increase. We saw significant growth in units sold and a decrease in average ticket as we planned. Apparel, accessories and home all performed well, which is great to see in today's retail environment. Segment profit margin decreased 30 basis points. Merchandise margin was up significantly, but was more than offset due to the negative impact from wage…

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Thank you, Scott. First, I'll cover some fourth quarter highlights. Again, we were pleased to end the year with another quarter of strong sales and customer traffic on top of an excellent fourth quarter last year. I believe our exciting gift-giving assortments and in-store initiatives during the holiday selling season were the best we have had yet. We are confident that our marketing helped attract new and existing customers and our constantly-changing selections and freshness encouraged more frequent shopping visits. Now, I'd like to briefly highlight our key strengths that we believe will continue to differentiate TJX and make our business so difficult to replicate. First, we have a world-class buying organization, which includes over 1,000 associates around the world. I truly believe they are the best in retail. Secondly, we see ourselves as a global sourcing machine, buying from a universe of over 18,000 vendors in more than 100 countries. Third, off-price is all that we do. Over four decades, we have built and continued to refine a global supply chain, distribution network and IT systems that support our highly-integrated international off-price business model. Fourth, we have decades of off-price operating experience in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, and are capitalizing on our global presence. Next, our flexibility allows us to react to changing market trends and consumer tastes to give shoppers what they want and when they want it. These core strengths have allowed us to successfully grow our business across all of our geographies, while delivering consumers a rapidly-changing mix of merchandise at amazing values. Now, to our growth initiatives, which give us confidence in our ability to gain market share for many years to come. Our number one initiative remains driving customer traffic and comp sales. We were very pleased with our traffic gains in 2016…

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Thanks, Ernie. Now for fiscal 2018 guidance beginning with the full year. This guidance includes a 53rd week in the fiscal 2018 calendar, which we expect will benefit full-year EPS growth by approximately 3% or $0.11 per share. On a GAAP basis, we expect fiscal 2018 earnings per share to be in the range of $3.80 to $3.89. Excluding the benefit from the 53rd week, we expect adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.69 to $3.78. This would be up 5% to 7% versus the adjusted $3.53 in fiscal 2017. I want to take a moment to recap a few factors impacting our expected earnings per share growth in fiscal 2018. First, we are assuming that wage increases will have a negative impact to fiscal 2018 EPS growth of about 2%, which is less than last year. We continue to anticipate that wage increases will have an incremental negative impact beyond fiscal 2018. Based on current approved legislation, we expect the pressure to further moderate next year. Second, we anticipate that the recent change in accounting rules for share-based compensation will benefit fiscal 2018 EPS growth by approximately 2% or about $0.08. As always, we plan to continue to invest strategically to support our U.S. and international growth. As we've discussed on prior conference calls, the incremental investments we have planned for fiscal 2018 include costs associated with our distribution network to support our global store growth plans. As to FX, at current rates, we expect the net impact of foreign currency and transactional foreign exchange to have a slightly negative impact on fiscal 2018 EPS growth. This year, the expected impact is primarily the result of the decline in the British pound versus the prior year. While it's too early to call – too early…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. And our first question comes from the line of Mr. Matthew Boss. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead.

Matthew Robert Boss - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · Mr. Matthew Boss. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead

So as we think about your underlying margin profile, from 11% to 12% operating margins today and putting the impact of the wages aside, are you still comfortable – I guess my question is, are you still comfortable with the 1% to 2% annual segment margin expansion or are there any offsets to consider as we think about that multiyear?

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Matt, Scott Goldenberg. I'm not sure what you mean by the 1% to 2% margin expansion, or...

Matthew Robert Boss - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · Mr. Matthew Boss. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead

So in the 10% to 13% annual earnings growth that you laid out in 2015, 6% to 7% top line, 1% to 2% segment profit margin expansion. I'm just trying to back into the bottom line earnings growth algorithm as it was last laid out, assuming the sales are the same, is there any difference in that profit margin expansion on an annual basis, if we were to back out wages, more trying to think beyond this year?

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, it's been almost two full years now since we've given out the long-term model, and as we talked about I think almost every quarter for the last two years, we haven't been giving detail on our long-term model at this point. So the better way maybe to look at it this year is on the 1% to 2% comp that we are guiding to, we have the 53-week benefit, so we're going out with 12% at the high to $3.89. The 53rd week's worth 3%. We had the one time – last year, we had the debt extinguishment and settlement, which is worth 2%, getting to the 5% to 7%, which includes some of the share-based compensation that we called out (34:13). So a 5% on a 2% comp would be the best way to rec, if you were going to rec to what we've done the last year or two. Again, only on a 2% comp, this year 6% was on a higher comp. Compared to the plan that we went out last year where we went out at the high end of the range with a 2% EPS growth rate on the 1% to 2% comp, there's been some moderation in the FX and in the wage. All things, the model is relatively similar to it has been in the past. And at this point, we still have, as I called out earlier, some wage pressure that we think is going forward, some investments to support our growth. So we're not really commenting on it much than that, but Ernie is going to weigh in also on that.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, I think all I would say, Matt, is that for all of the things we talked about in the script, in terms of the fundamental strength, we have a high degree of confidence in all of the differentiators and the way we can take advantage of the environment we're in. And as much as we're not giving specifics on the long-term growth, we're really feeling that we would expect our earnings per share growth to slightly improve each year over the next couple of years. So we're seeing that like – we're feeling pretty comfortable, we'll see that ticking up. Barring everything stays apples-to-apples in terms of wage, state-by-state, all around us. So, hopefully, that adds some more color to you.

Matthew Robert Boss - JPMorgan Securities LLC

Analyst · Mr. Matthew Boss. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead

No, it does. Thanks, guys. Best of luck.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ms. Lindsay Drucker Mann. Ma'am your line is open. Go ahead, please. Lindsay Drucker Mann - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Thanks. Good morning, guys. I was hoping you could give some color on in the markets where you're nearby to a closed Macy's, if you're seeing any impact on the performance in your stores from those liquidations or how you're sort of thinking about momentum in those stores in those shared markets?

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

So we really haven't seen anything dramatic there. What's happening is there's a lot of noise around, Lindsay, in terms of the market share gain because what's happening clearly is there's just a couple of sectors in the businesses, obviously, online is one of them and in off-price, ourselves and others is the other and clearly gaining market share. Some of that could be because of stores closing but some of the noise gets – it gets kind of tough to do all of these analyses because you also have some businesses, even if they're not closing they're down trending. So, obviously, there's market share that's being capitalized on from a few different ways. So we don't see really a specific pattern in that. Not to say that it wouldn't happen over time. Some of those closings are more recent, but over time it's possible. Hopefully that helps answer your question though. Lindsay Drucker Mann - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Got it. And if I could just maybe sneak one more in. Ernie, maybe you could clarify or Scott on the comment about unfavorable weather early on and I think it was favorable weather in the prior year. Just a little more detail on what you're thinking about weather.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, we actually – we were quite specific last year at the end of – when we did the first quarter call, Scott and I were quite transparent about how favorable the weather was. We also didn't want people getting too used to the comps that we delivered in the first quarter last year because it was so strong given one of the most favorable weather patterns we had ever seen in our first quarter. So I would say that our weather pattern this year is a little bit more like a traditional first-quarter weather pattern which, as you know, unfortunately, isn't as favorable as last year's. So that's what really we're talking about. So that gives you a little bit of a fall-off, which is a little piece of our first quarter guidance there. Having said that, it's still early for us to be talking about the first quarter because we have a lot of the quarter to go and the important thing I think everyone needs to remember and I like to reiterate is that our business model really differentiates us by the flexibility that we have. So we are able to capitalize and react and read to the marketplace and move much quicker than most of the other major retailers. So getting away from the weather situation, which other retailers could feel as well, if you say, well that could happen to everyone, you would think that could create opportunities and that's where our business model really plays out. We're able to take advantage of those. So we're in a strong liquidity position and I would tell you we're in a wait-and-see mode. So we want to really, right now, not based on what's going on around us, we would just want to take that conservative approach for first quarter, and believe me, our teams are all driven to exceed the plans. As Scott has said many times, we want to have conservative plans though. Based a little bit on the weather thing you asked about, based a little bit on the environment, we just said let's be conservative. We have liquidity, we can flex, and again, our intention is to always exceed our plans. Lindsay Drucker Mann - Goldman Sachs & Co.: Great. Thanks so much.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mr. Omar Saad. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please.

Omar Saad - Evercore ISI

Analyst · Mr. Omar Saad. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Thanks. Good morning. Ernie, I actually really enjoyed some of your prepared remarks. I'd love to ask about the new home concept, but I think I'd rather use my one question to talk about the...

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

You know you're limited, Omar?

Omar Saad - Evercore ISI

Analyst · Mr. Omar Saad. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

The news on the Trade Secret and kind of converting it to more of a T.K. Maxx. It's interesting because – I'd love to kind of have maybe a clear picture of how you got comfortable with the visibility of that nameplate and the recognition in the local marketplace in Australia because it may have implications for other new markets as you enter them. I don't know if tourists in the U.S. or Europe are really learning about the T.K. Maxx concept, and that's what drove that decision? Anything would be helpful there. Thanks.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, sure. Great question, Omar. A couple things we're playing into it. The first of all, ironically – this is anecdotal – on my first trip over there, I was with Michael MacMillan who obviously the business reports to, and we had a couple of customers while we were walking through the store, they must have known we were management, and said they were traveling from other places, and they asked us, is this a T.K. Maxx because they were confused. And clearly it wasn't. It was a Trade Secret. So right away – and then of course we did more studies. We knew that the brand was important. I would tell you we have been thinking on and off about doing this a lot earlier, but we did not want to do it till we had made the progress on the merchandising and distribution and supply chain lines to get the stores in the place where we felt it was okay to put the T.K. Maxx brand on it. So it's a great question, Omar, because we weren't ready. One reason, it's like now is we weren't confident enough, quite honestly, a few months ago, say, put the name on it. Now we have made tremendous progress. I could not be more excited about the business that we've been seeing of recent the last couple of months, and we have been doing these remodels. Some of our associates here that have recently been over there have talked about how great the remodels is. Look, it's just T.J. – you would feel like you're in a T.J. Maxx or a T.K. Maxx. And now the most important thing is the merchandise is reflecting the content that we are proud of where we say now we're comfortable rebranding it to T.K. Maxx, because you can imagine we did not want to do that if we didn't think the mix was up to what that brand is. So I hope that answers your question and all I can tell you is if you ever have a chance to be there you would find it to be a very exciting format. And the customer base there is – Scott has been there fairly recently, would tell you, the customer base is really in our sweet spot and they're very value driven. They just haven't had options much in the past.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, and as Ernie said, between the remodels we've been doing at the back half of this past year and the remodels we're doing this spring, we'll have most of the stores that we want remodeled by the time we launch the conversions and the marketing campaign in the spring this year. And it also helped that last year, we opened up a distribution center, so now we're able to ship the way we ship in our off-price model and the rest of our divisions and give those stores the multiple deliveries they get a week that keep the freshness. So we're excited.

Omar Saad - Evercore ISI

Analyst · Mr. Omar Saad. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

And you had mentioned 120-store potential opportunity there. Could you just remind us how many there are now and how many have been converted and then remodeled?

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

We haven't given – there's 35 stores now and let's just say the majority will be converted – well, they will all be converted, but the remodels will be remodeled and there will be four openings this year.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Four new stores on top of that.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

But it's really the first-time marketing the business coming up here in the near future.

Omar Saad - Evercore ISI

Analyst · Mr. Omar Saad. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Thank you, guys. Appreciate the color.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

You're welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mr. Michael Binetti. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please.

Michael Binetti - UBS Securities LLC

Analyst · Mr. Michael Binetti. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for all the detail on the call today. Very helpful. Just a quick one for the model, I think you said that the expectation for the next year is for the merch margins to be, I think, you said stable to last year's. Is there any reason why the merchandise margin improvement that you guys saw recently slows over the next year and then I had a quick follow up?

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Well, we plan the model pretty similarly every year. We're planning the merchandise margin up on top of a fairly significant – almost – approximately 20 basis point increase this year, so we do still have some margin pressure, approximately 10 basis points relative to the drop in the British pound, as the drop in the spring after the Brexit announcement. So we have the pressures well, but we know it's – we've had – we feel pretty good. We continue to work on our planning and allocation and our inventory management and we've certainly had increases for each of the last five years, but it's, again, we still think there's room for improvement, but we're just planning it slightly up.

Michael Binetti - UBS Securities LLC

Analyst · Mr. Michael Binetti. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Okay. And then if I just could quickly follow up, if we could just zero in, with so much of the calls taken up with your global business these days, on the supply chain spending in the long-term pretty consistent reinvestment you guys have talked about, but that's been a source of deleverage for a lot of quarters in a row. You guys keep investing ahead of the opportunity. Can we think about a global supply chain investment bucket and just think about whether there's a point somewhere on the horizon where that could flip over and be a source of leverage or you'd say, we've got sufficient supply chain in all the markets we're in at this point where we enter maybe the next couple of years where that's not a deleverage point.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yes. It's a great question. I think some of it has to do – some of this is short and medium term and then there's long term. I think HomeGoods is a great example of something that's the longer term where clearly we couldn't call it all out, but I think our investment there was highly correlated to what we saw as the opportunities to grow market share and our store. So we had to invest in DCs ahead of our increased growth in our both new stores and HomeGoods, the store conversions Ernie talked about in the new store concept, so there's a case where you need to build out ahead of the growth. In terms of talking – we've talked about this before, Marmaxx, some of this was unforeseen as the average retailer decreased a bit more but we, again, think that has been extremely positive both – obviously it's a combination of both mix and price, but to our overall growth, it could go other way if retails stabilize and go the other way where you could end up – some of the growth we have in DCs, the out years could be delayed and we would get some synergies and you're talking about a reverse average ticket. Other than that, just some of it's been a timing of replacing DCs that were older as we've had in both – what we're going to be doing in Europe this year and we may have in Marmaxx in a couple years. So I think it's going to be more lumpy, but we still see, given the growth trajectory that we called out in the new store growth, it's still going to be an impact at least for the next year or two. And then we would hope it moderate, but there are too many factors to be crystal clear at this point on what that deleverage or flattening will be or when it will be.

Michael Binetti - UBS Securities LLC

Analyst · Mr. Michael Binetti. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead, please

All right. Thanks a lot, guys.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ms. Lorraine Hutchinson. Ma'am, your line is open. Go ahead, please.

Lorraine Maikis Hutchinson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Ms. Lorraine Hutchinson. Ma'am, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Thanks. Good morning. I wanted to follow up on the comments you actually just made on average ticket. Been a couple of years, I know part of that is purposeful as you move into new categories, but where do you think we are in that move? And then also, what do you see in terms of pressure from the full price channel impacting the rest of your ability to increase that average ticket over the next couple of years?

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yes, so let me get to the short-term piece of that before Ernie goes on, on the broader piece. Speaking at Marmaxx, both the fourth quarter of this past year and the first quarter of what we see this year was primarily almost entirely due to mix. So that really has little to do with the pricing dynamic or what the other – because we're maintaining our value equation with the other retailers. It's just that we – as we've always done, have tried to adjust the mix to we see what the customer preferences are. And that has just spurred to a slightly lower average retail.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, some of the – let me piggyback on that, some of the – Lorraine, some of the hot categories just by nature and it's just the nature of the beast we run into have been lower ticket categories. If you even think about the home business and some of the categories we've gone after there, you can see them in our store. They have been some lower ticket categories as has been some of our other businesses. And that's making, to Scott's point, the average ticket still to continue to come down. We have said numerous, numerous times our number one objective is to continue gaining market share. So, we don't feel comfortable managing that from the top and taking us off the mission to continue to drive top line sales. Although I heard your right – I think you had like a second part of your question about the regular price, do I have this right, about the pressure from regular price retailers?

Lorraine Maikis Hutchinson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Ms. Lorraine Hutchinson. Ma'am, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Yes.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Yeah, so we've seen – it feels like out there that things are a little bit more promotional currently, but we don't know that for a fact, nor do we know how long that goes on. The good news is we operate very bottom-up from the buyer level up where we constantly shop all retails and ensure that our GAAP is below them. So I think what you're getting at is if they continue to get promotional, could that hold our ticket down. That's another factor that, yes, part of our model was to always never be undersold. So that could. That has not really been a driver of it because we've – as witnessed by our market share gains, we've been keeping quite the appropriate gap in retail between us and the other retailers. So I don't see that as being a big switch going forward, but in this environment, it's hard to look too far out because there's so much unknown still.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

And at the same time, for the last couple of quarters, at least, and we still think for the first quarter, we've been able to give the customer that value...

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Absolutely.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

...and have our merchandise margin go up...

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

And the margin hang in there, right.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

...over the last at least the recent times.

Lorraine Maikis Hutchinson - Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Analyst · Ms. Lorraine Hutchinson. Ma'am, your line is open. Go ahead, please

Thank you.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mr. Oliver Chen. Sir, your line is open. Go ahead. Oliver Chen - Cowen & Co. LLC: Thank you. Congrats on really outstanding results. We had a question – in relation to the overall retail industry, there's been this trend of store closures, but you've had a real steadfast and demonstrate-able progress in opening stores. So as you think about North America, are you looking at expanding into new markets or is that adding depth into your existing markets? And have there been thoughts or tweaks or a framework, which has been altered? Or how do you think about that as we think about really justifying the long-term growth algorithm in the face of what we're seeing at malls and Amazon and others? Thank you.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Sure. So, Oliver, I think it's kind of a multi-pronged question because it's kind of a mix. We have so many brands now. So if you look the one thing we talked about is HomeGoods, for example, right, this year is going to open – we're going to open in our HomeGoods division like 85 stores, of which four are the new concept. But that still leaves a chunk of stores and many of those are hitting new markets. In fact, those conversion stores we talked about that are in some of the Marmaxx stores are actually hitting markets that HomeGoods would not have been in. So we are specifically, in that case quite specifically, hitting new markets with that brand. If you look at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, you're running into places where we are in so many places already. You're starting to get to different markets, but maybe B and C markets in a different trading area. So a little bit – not such a green empty market for us, but one where we can do more business with the appropriate population and demographics. So it's a bit of a mix. We have some Sierra Trading Post stores open. Those are clearly going into new markets because it's such a young business. If you think it down the road of the new concept in home that we just extended because we just believe home continues to present for us because of the way we do it in such a differentiated value manner, just continues to create this enormous opportunity for TJX in total. If you think about this new business, which is only starting with four stores later this year, that to us is a – you're talking about going to all the markets because it's a new…

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

So that's pretty, Oliver, kind of what – it's just a basic strategy we have to ensure that our chain is up-to-date and that we don't lose – so in some cases, by the way, we have found and it's a little cloudy at this point. In some cases we actually got a little sales lift, and a lot of cases you're trying to ensure that you don't deteriorate and you keep yourself up to the current standards that allow us to continue to make the customer happy from a shopping environment. And that's really where we've been. So we look at the customer service feedback, which I think I referred to in my script. We are constantly looking at that in a very timely manner, more so than we have for years, and we can kind of zero in on what stores between that. And our real estate team does a fantastic job of knowing when and where we need to pull the trigger to remodel a store. Again, we're fortunate because our brick-and-mortar business is healthy, and so we have the cash to keep reinvesting. That's another place where Scott is always having to manage all of our investments that we do, but we think remodels are critical. And we do believe it is one of the reasons that we continue to have a healthy brick-and-mortar business as we don't allow our stores to get outdated. And when we do our remodels, we look at functional improvements as well. It isn't just an atmosphere. It's a functional improvement approach in addition to an atmosphere redesign. So, yes, we are bullish. We do flex with it, and you'll see our remodel number vary a little year-to-year based on a bottom-up approach, feedback. Oliver Chen - Cowen & Co. LLC: Thank you. Best regards.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our last question comes from the line of Ms. Dana Telsey. Ma'am, your line is open. Go ahead, please.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Hello?

Operator

Operator

Ms. Telsey?

Dana Lauren Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group LLC

Analyst

Hi. Yes. Good morning and congratulations on the terrific results.

Scott Goldenberg - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Thank you, Dana.

Dana Lauren Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group LLC

Analyst

As you think about the new concept opportunities with Sierra Trading Post, with what you're doing with the new home business, how do you think about the apparel category relative to these categories? Is there the opportunity for another new apparel business that would develop? And what the margin offsets are of these new potential businesses? Thank you.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Right. Good questions. So first of all, let me address the first part on the apparel question that you're getting at. So, as you know, we're pretty dominant in apparel right now with our Maxx and Marshalls businesses in the states. I would tell you that a lot of the Sierra Trading Post business is apparel that we'll be looking at. There's nothing on the plate right now in terms of another brand, in terms of apparel, but that's not to say never. We're always looking and innovating and testing lots of ideas around here, and I would tell you that it's not that that idea has not come up. I would say we have toyed with different versions, but as you know we're pretty methodical in that we don't want to do too many things at once. So if you're us, what we're looking at right now is we have a high degree of confidence in our Australia business, which is a full-line store, very much we do, apparel driven. We like the way our Maxx and Marshalls business is going, and we're looking at where we think we are most underpenetrated from opportunity potential is in our home arena in the U.S. And it just screams at us. Obviously, and you're aware of all the success. So we are bullish in terms of some of the apparel parts of the Sierra Trading Post expansion, and we're bullish about those stores specifically. And getting at that, we've put a new infrastructure in place, a planning organization in place, and we've actually put some systems in place that are going to allow us to handle those apparel and non-apparel areas in a much more TJX-way of shipping and selling the goods. So, I know, I don't think I'm totally answering your question about where do we see apparel going, but I think you were trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak.

Dana Lauren Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group LLC

Analyst

Exactly.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

Okay.

Dana Lauren Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group LLC

Analyst

Yes. And what about cosmetics, there's been a lot of – beauty has been a bigger category or been a heightened-focus category, I just got eh email the other day. Is that an opportunity?

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

I can't really comment specifically on a family business like that, but it's a good question. Very good question, Dana.

Dana Lauren Telsey - Telsey Advisory Group LLC

Analyst

Thank you.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

You're welcome.

Ernie L. Herrman - The TJX Cos., Inc.

Management

I guess we have taken our last call, and we would say again, we've been very excited to have this time with you guys today. Thank you all for joining us. We look forward to updating you on our first quarter earnings call in May. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes your conference call for today. You may all disconnect. Thank you for participating.