Target Shares Slide On Q1 Earnings Miss; Retailer Says Traffic Accelerating In Q2

Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) shares are down sharply in pre-market trading after the discount retailer reported mixed fiscal first-quarter results and issued fairly in-line bottom-line guidance for the second quarter and full year.

Retail peer Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) reported last week with forecast-beating top- and bottom-line results.

The Q1 Print

Target's Q1 adjusted earnings per share rose 9.4 percent to $1.32, trailing the $1.38 consensus estimate.

Total revenues climbed 3.4 percent to $16.78 billion, which came on the back of 3-percent comps growth and 3.7-percent traffic growth.

Analysts, on average, estimated revenue of $16.5 billion.

Digital sales grew a strong 28 percent, faster than the 21-percent growth in the year-ago quarter.

This compares to Walmart's U.S. online sales growth of 33 percent for the quarter.

"Strong sales growth in our home, essentials and food and beverage categories offset the impact of delayed sales in temperature-sensitive categories, which accelerated rapidly in recent weeks as weather improved across the country," Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement. 

The Outlook

Target guided to an acceleration in Q2 comps into the low-to-mid single digit range.

The company forecast both GAAP EPS from continuing operations and adjusted EPS of $1.30-$1.50, representing a 15-percent increase from last year at the midpoint.

Momentum in traffic has accelerated in the second quarter, the company said.

The consensus estimate calls for EPS of $1.35 in Q2. 

Target affirmed its comps expectations for the full year at low single digit growth. Adjusted EPS for the year was guided to $5.15-$5.45, surrounding the consensus estimate of $5.28.

At the time of writing, the shares of Target were down 5.5 percent to $75.47.

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Photo courtesy of Target.