with inflation and excess inventory weighing on many retailers there is one name that is getting a lot of love from analysts tjx companies the offprice retailer beat earnings expectations on wednesday reporting thirdquarter earningspershare of 86 cents versus a streetaccount estimate of 80 cents revenue however came in lower than expected at 1217 billion compared to the 123 billion expected by wall street the results sent the stock 4 higher wednesday although it has given up some of those gains thursday the glut of inventory in the retail space has helped lift tjx s earnings ceo ernie herrman said on the earnings conference call wednesday the marketplace is absolutely loaded with quality branded merchandise across good better and best brands he said importantly this has set us up very well to offer an excellent assortment of branded gifts this holiday season that we believe will excite and inspire our shoppers several analysts agree with barclays naming tjx its top pick hands down despite the nuanced quarter with both pluses and minuses we believe the most important takeaway is that offprice is structurally built to remedy excess inventory problems and clear evidence of this is emerging barclays analyst adrienne yih wrote in a note thursday in fact there has been a shift in power to the offprice retailer which in turn allows them to charge higher selling prices and improve their merchandise margin she added yih raised her price target to 94 from 76 implying 19 upside from wednesdays close cashstrapped shoppers high inflation has many consumers planning to cut back on spending this holiday season that could also benefit tjx which is considered a recession play momentum in marmaxx along with the offprice business model of ontrend branded goods at a discount to traditional retail suggests an attractive channel for cash strapped shoppers in the q4holiday quarter cowen analyst john kernan wrote in a note thursday kernan boosted his price target to 84 per share from 78 tjxs comparablestore sales were driven by the excellent performance of marmaxx particularly its apparel business the company said us marmaxx sales which includes tj maxx and marshalls brand stores rose 3in the third quarter while tjxs homegoods comparablestore sales sank 16 looking ahead the company narrowed its fullyear expectations by 2 cents to 307 to 311 earningspershare due to unfavorable exchange rates we view the guidance as achievable and potentially beatable given the high quality inventory and growing need for tradedown said bank of america analyst lorraine hutchinson she reiterated her buy rating and 80 price target we think that the multiple is warranted as tjx has outperformed the retail industry domestically has a solid international growth opportunity significant square footage growth potential a strong track record of returning excess cash to shareholders in a normalized environment and high returns on invested capital she wrote in a note wednesday offprice competition tjxs trajectory to market share gains and margin expansion will likely occur in the second half of 2022 while ross stores and burlington will lag by a couple of quarters said barclays yih thats due to greater wallet pressure among lower householdincome consumers she said tjx has already shown success in raising average ticket prices while its competitors in the second quarter indicated they would lower ticket prices for the second half of the year she said from what we have heard thus far in earnings we believe the 50k to 60k household income consumer is pulling back spending further in 3q22 versus 2q22 thus we believe that it will be difficult for rost and burl to show material upside sales momentum during fallholiday yih said burlington also has had companyspecific missteps she added