Target Posts Profit but Sees Sluggish Sales Ahead
Target Corp., the second largest U.S. retailer, reported a profit which beat Wall Street forecasts as the company's chief financial officer said sluggish sales were ahead.
Power outages threaten Chinese New YearThe discount retailer reported a net income of $602 million, or 74 cents per share, down 7.5 percent compared to net income during the same quarter a year ago of $651 million, or 75 cents per share. Revenue was up 5.4 percent to $14.8 billion.
Analysts had been expecting a profit of 71 cents per share with $14.92 billion in Revenue according to Thomson Reuters.
"Our first quarter earnings per share met our expectations despite softer-than-expected sales performance," said Gregg Steinhafel, president and chief executive officer.
During a conference call with analysts, chief financial officer Doug Scovanner said that analysts' expectations of full year earnings of $3.47 per share were likely within a "reasonable" range of possibilities, according to Reuters. He added that the company's outlook is "somewhat softer" that some analysts' target earnings of 79 cents for the second quarter.
The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company said its retail segment earned $959 million, down 2.2 percent from $980 million in 2007. Sales were $14.3 billion, up 5 percent. Credit card revenues were up 19.8 percent to $500 million.
Target also said today that it will sell about 47 percent of its credit card debt to JPMorgan Chase for cash proceeds of $3.6 billion.
Shares of Target fell 70 cents, or 1.27 percent to $54.22.
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