Target Earnings: Here’s Why Shares are Down Now

Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) delivered a profit and missed Wall Street’s expectations, BUT beat the revenue expectation. The revenue beat is a positive sign to shareholders seeking high growth out of the company. Shares are down 3.06%.

Target Corp. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Adjusted Earnings Per Share increased 2.8% to $1.47 in the quarter versus EPS of $1.43 in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 6.75% to $22.73 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Target Corp. reported adjusted EPS income of $1.47 per share. By that measure, the company missed the mean analyst estimate of $1.48. It beat the average revenue estimate of $22.69 billion.

Quoting Management: “We’re pleased with Target’s fourth quarter performance, particularly in the face of a highly promotional retail environment and continued consumer uncertainty,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Target Corporation. “Outstanding discipline and execution by our team allowed us to achieve our full-year financial and strategic goals in 2012. We believe these results position us well to deliver on significant plans in 2013, including completion of the largest store opening program in our company’s history with 124 stores in Canada and additional Target and CityTarget locations in the U.S., investing in new processes and technology that will improve our guests’ multichannel experience and closing the sale of our credit card receivables.”

Key Stats (on next page)…