Shares of The TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) -- probably better known to shoppers as T.J. Maxx -- ran up 5.9% through 10:45 a.m. ET after the company announced a beat on both sales and earnings estimates Wednesday morning.

Heading into the quarter, analysts forecast TJX would earn $0.92 per share on $13.3 billion in sales. In fact, it earned $0.96 per share, and its revenue approached $13.5 billion.

TJX reported a 6% gain in second-quarter sales year over year, including a 4% gain in same-store sales (comps) in particular. (The rest of the sales gains came from opening new stores). The company then turbocharged that rather modest sales growth with a 50-basis-point increase in profit margins (now at 10.9%), resulting in total growth of 13% on the bottom line.

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Source Fool.com