UPDATE: Target Posts Lower Q1 Profit, Lowers Full-Year Guidance

Target

reported a 16% drop in its first-quarter earnings. Target's quarterly profit fell to $418 million, or $0.66 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $498 million, or $0.78 per share. Excluding certain items, it earned $0.70 per share, versus its own outlook of $0.60 to $0.75 per share. Its revenue gained 2.1% to $17.05 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.71 per share on revenue of $17 billion. In the US, Target's sales rose 0.2% to $16.7 billion, while sales at stores open more than 13 months declined 0.3%. The number of transactions fell 2.3%, while average transaction amounts rose 2.1% in the period. In Canada, Target's losses came in at $211 million on sales of $393 million. The company's press release offered the following comment from John Mulligan, Interim President and CEO, CFO of Target: “First quarter financial performance in both our U.S. and Canadian Segments was in line with expectations, reflecting the benefit of continued recovery from the data breach and early signs of improvement in our Canada operations.” Target expects Q2 earnings of $0.85 to $1 per share, versus analysts' expectations of $1.02 per share. It projects full-year earnings of $3.60 to $3.90 per share, versus its earlier forecast of $3.85 to $4.15 per share. Target shares fell 0.39% to $56.39 in pre-market trading.