shares of tjx companies tjx gained 08 in premarket trading wednesday after the offprice apparel and home fashions retailer reported fiscal fourthquarter profit that matched expectations but sales that beat as customer traffic increased and amid strength in its marmaxx branded stores net income for the quarter to jan 28 rose to 104 billion or 89 cents a share from 940 million or 78 cents a share in the yearago period the factset consensus for earnings per share was 89 cents net sales grew 48 to 1452 billion above the factset consensus of 1407 billion as samestore sales growth of 4 beat expectations of a 11 rise marmaxx samestore sales rose 7 to beat the factset consensus for 28 growth while homegoods samestore sales decline of 7 beat expectations of a 9 decline for the first quarter the company expects eps of 68 cents to 71 cents below the current factset consensus of 74 cents and samestore sales growth of 2 to 3 versus expectations of 23 growth “during the year our apparel businesses including accessories across the company were strong” said chief executive ernie herrman “sales at our home businesses overall were softer as we saw extraordinary growth during the two prior years when consumers focused on purchases for their homes” the stock has slipped 16 over the past three months through tuesday while the sp 500 spx has eased 02