Target CorporationTGT impressed investors in its
second-quarter earnings report Wednesday, sending the stock higher by more than 5 percent — a strong move considering Target already issued guidance
in early July.
Target
reported that it earned $1.23 per share in the quarter on revenue of $16.429 billion; analysts were expecting the retail chain to earn $1.19 per share on revenue of $16.3 billion. Comparable sales for the entire company rose 1.3 percent in the quarter while the digital channel saw its comparable sales grow by 32 percent.
"We continue to focus on our long-term strategy, as we work to transform every part of our business and build an even better Target that will thrive in this new era in retail," said
Brian Cornell,
chairman and CEO of Target. "While our recent results are encouraging, we will continue to plan prudently as we invest in building our brands, our digital channel, the value we provide our guests and elevating service levels in our stores."
Target also returned to investors $627 million, of which $331 million were in the form of dividends, while the company bought back 5.6 million shares of its own stock at an average price of $52.45, for a total investment of $296 million.
Target ended the quarter with $4.1 billion of remaining capacity under its $5 billion share repurchase program.
Looking forward, Target expects to earn 75–95 cents per share in the third quarter versus analysts expectations of $0.77 per share. For the full fiscal year, the company expects to earn $4.34 to $4.54 per share versus expectations for $4.39 per share.
Related Links:8 Stocks To Watch For August 16, 2017
Earnings Scheduled For August 16, 2017
_______
Image Credit: By No machine-readable author provided. Kelly Martin assumed (based on copyright claims). [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
