Target shares tumbled on Wednesday after the retailer severely missed Wall Street's quarterly earnings estimates and cut its full-year profit guidance.
The retailer's stock fell 19% during morning trading after it said it's taking a more cautious stance for the most critical quarter in the retail industry after seeing weakness in certain discretionary categories despite slashing prices on 2,000 items this holiday season to drive traffic.
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Target CEO Brian Cornell said the company "encountered some unique challenges and cost pressures" that impacted its bottom-line performance over the last three-month period.
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Among its challenges, Cornell told analysts there was "continued softness" in certain discretionary categories "as consumers continue to spend cautiously."
The big-box retailer is now expecting store sales to be "approximately flat" during the fourth quarter. It is also projecting that its full-year adjusted earnings per share will range from $8.30 to $8.90.
It's an about-face from August when the company raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share to range between $9.00 to $9.70. Over the summer, the company benefited from price cuts it made, with Cornell saying there was an "acceleration" in unit and dollar sales trends during the three-month period ending June 30.
Target's adjusted earnings per share for the third quarter was $1.85, down 20% from Wall Street's estimate of $2.30. Its revenue notched $25.67 billion, missing analyst expectations of about $25.90 billion.
The stock fell more than 15% during pre-marking trading following the news.
"It's disappointing that a deceleration in discretionary demand, combined with multiple cost pressures, have caused us to take down our guidance after raising it last quarter," Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke said during the company's earnings call Wednesday.
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Fiddelke said that given the consumer uncertainty, the company believes "it's prudent to take this conservative approach while taking swift and disciplined action to position ourselves to win during the holidays."
He said the company still remains "confident in the long term trajectory of our business" and said it is "confident that demand in discretionary categories will normalize."
