Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is scheduled to release its fiscal first-quarter financial results before the markets open on Wednesday. The consensus estimates are calling for $1.43 in earnings per share (EPS) and $17.5 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $1.32 in EPS and $16.78 billion in revenue.
In terms of guidance for this past quarter, Target previously said that it expects to see a low- to mid-single-digit increase in comparable sales and EPS in the range of $1.32 to $1.52.
In its prior quarterly report, Target noted that comparable sales grew 5.3%. Stores comparable sales grew 2.9%, while comparable digital sales grew 31%, contributing 2.4 percentage points to comparable sales growth.
Merrill Lynch recently issued a fairly positive call on Target, as analysts believe that Target is currently priced right to buy going into the summer months. The brokerage firm issued a Buy rating with a price objective of $100.
Excluding Tuesday’s move, Target has underperformed the broad markets, with its stock up about 9% year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the stock is actually down about 5%.
A few other analysts weighed in on Target ahead of the report:
- Morgan Stanley has an Equal Weight rating and a $67 target.
- Sanford Bernstein has a Market Perform rating.
- Barclays has an Overweight rating with a $115 price target.
- Telsey Advisory Group has an Outperform rating and a $92 target.
- Gordon Haskett has a Buy rating.
Shares of Target were last seen up about 1% at $72.84, in a 52-week range of $60.15 to $90.39. The consensus price target is $86.60.
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