What to Expect From Target Earnings

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 13, 4:34AM EST · Published Aug 16, 11:10AM EDT

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What to Expect From Target Earnings — © courtesy of Target Corp.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets open on Wednesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $1.12 in earnings per share (EPS) on $16.18 billion in revenue. The retailer posted EPS of $1.22 and $17.43 billion in revenue in the same period of last year.

Early in June the board of directors announced that it had raised the quarterly dividend by 7.1%, from $0.56 to $0.60. The new dividend is payable September 10, 2016, to shareholders of record on August 17.

Target posted a revenue decline of more than 5% in its first quarter of fiscal 2016, and that took shares down 7% in one trading session. The stock basically flatlined at that level for three weeks.

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Although the numbers were mixed in the first quarter, albeit with better-than-expected earnings, guidance seemingly cratered this stock. Some might attribute this to the Amazon effect, while others are seeing this as a weather-related issue.

A few analysts weighed in on Target ahead of earnings:

Deutsche Bank has a Hold rating.
Jefferies has a $72 price target.
Nomura has a Hold rating and a $75 price target.
Miller Tabak has a Buy rating and an $87 price target.
Piper Jaffray reiterated an Outperform rating with an $86 price target.
Argus reiterated a Hold rating.
BMO Capital Markets reiterated a Market Perform rating with a $76 price target.
Morgan Stanley reiterated an Underweight rating.

So far in 2016, Target has slightly underperformed the broad markets, with the stock up about 6.5%. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock is actually down 1%.

Shares of Target were trading at $75.63 on Tuesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $77.97 and a 52-week trading range of $65.50 to $84.62.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.