Bullseye! Target (TGT) Lights Up Q1 with Strong Comps; Boosts FY12 Outlook
Total quarterly sales rose 5.9 percent to $16.87 billion, compared with views calling for $16.83 billion. Top-line growth was hampered by a 7.1 percent dip in credit card revs.
Speaking of credit cards, expenses for the segment rose 35.5 percent, leading to just a 1.2 percent growth in net income to $697 million, or $1.04 per diluted share. Excluding one-time items related to income taxes, EPS came in better at $1.11, versus expectations of $1.01.
U.S. comps rose 5.3 percent with EBIT up 12.9 percent to $1.2 billion.
The comment of the morning has to come from Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel, who said: "We’re very pleased with our first quarter earnings, which benefited from better-than-expected sales." It's almost like a sports coach saying their goal is to "score more points than the other team" when asked what they'll do differently in the second-half to try and win the game.
Looking ahead, Target is "targeting" second-quarter 2012 EPS of $1.04 to $1.14, which is better than Street expectations of 99 cents. Fiscal 2012 EPS outlook was raised 5 cents to a range of $4.60 to $4.80, better than expectations calling for $4.28.
Shares of Target are up 1.5 percent early Wednesday.