Target blames a “highly challenging environment”.
Yahoo!Finance reports Target shares drop: Misses Q1 earnings estimates, cuts full-year outlook
Target reported first-quarter earnings on Wednesday that fell short of analyst expectations and lowered its full-year guidance, sending shares down more than 6% at the open.
The retail giant posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.30 for the quarter ended April 29, missing the analyst consensus of $1.65. Revenue came in at $23.85 billion, below estimates of $24.35 billion and down 2.8% YoY.
Comparable sales decreased 3.8% in the first quarter, reflecting a 5.7% decline in comparable store sales partially offset by 4.7% growth in digital sales. The company cited a “highly challenging environment” for the weaker-than-expected performance.
For fiscal 2025, Target now expects a low-single digit decline in sales and adjusted EPS of $7.00 to $9.00. The retailer previously guided for net sales growth in a range around 1% and adjusted EPS between $8.80 and $9.80
To address current challenges, Target announced the establishment of a “multi-year acceleration office” led by Michael Fiddelke, aimed at enabling faster decision-making and execution of strategic initiatives to support a return to growth.
“Q1 [was] very messy,” stated analysts at Mizuho reacting to the earnings release. However, they add that ” while [it was] a negative print, investors were braced for the worst.”
“The company also lowered the midpoint of their guide…, but given the negative momentum in the biz, potential future price investments and tariffs, we suspect there is risk even to that range,” added the firm. “While the market for discretionary goods remains soft (even Walmart (NYSE:WMT) [WMT, Buy] just posted a slight decline in General Merchandise sales), we also believe that Target is being adversely impacted by competition – especially from Walmart.”
Highly Challenging Market Translated
- Tariffs
- Budget policy
- Trump-sponsored inflation
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May 15, 2025: Walmart CFO Warns Price Hikes Are Coming, Blames Tariffs
Walmart says it will pass on some tariff price hikes.
May 18, 2025: Trump Blasts Walmart on Price Hikes, Sounds Just Like Elizabeth Warren
Republicans should be seriously embarrassed by Trump.
Trump on Walmart
“Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year,” he wrote in a post Saturday on Truth Social. “Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Lat year, in a letter to Kroger, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bob Casey accused large grocery chains like Kroger and Walmart of being poised “to squeeze consumers to increase profits.”
Now Trump says Walmart should “EAT THE TARIFFS”
So Trump commands the automakers and Walmart to not raise prices. And he says ” I’ll be watching” .
Well la de da. So what?
Trump Tells Auto CEOs No Price Hikes, Did Comrade Kamala Win?
On March 30, I asked Trump Tells Auto CEOs No Price Hikes, Did Comrade Kamala Win?
It’s price controls by mandate. Dust off those WIN buttons.
New Economic Theory
Also consider New Economic Theory “Tariffs Are a Tax Cut for the American People”
It is now proven that Trump is not only economically illiterate. It is also proven he cannot control his own emotions.
Republicans should not only be embarrassed by this, they should be outright disturbed by it.
The media is reporting it’s due to them rolling back DEI policies. I think consumers are trying to save money.
Supposedly, Trump also had issues with Amazon including a tariff fee in their pricing.
The new portfolio allocation: Less in financial assets, more in real assets. Those are the new rules. Ignore them at your own risk.
will they start closing ‘under-performing’ stores?
Similar to 2009, Walmart has picked up higher-income customers. DEI-related botcott is a
minor factor in Target’s decline compared to broader economic issues.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/walmart-getting-bump-surprising-cohort-wealthier-shoppers-rcna192872
Walmart is running circles around Target. Target sells the same crap from the same sweatshops. Only difference is that Target charges more. People are on to Target and when money is tight they go with the cheaper option.
GIVE FOOD TO GAZA
It’s all self imposed. They had a great strategy. The best line up of transgender merch ever. Some one’s gotta sell it. Why not Target?
Is Target still in business? They are so woke, I and many of my friends and family refuse to set foot in a Target store ever again
Nailed it!!!
They’re big on bathrooms. They should open a store on the Oberlin campus.
I will NEVER walk into a Target store for the rest of my life. They tried to sell trans swimsuits to children. Prior to that they allowed anyone to use any bathroom they liked. Go Woke, Go Broke! Target still hasn’t recovered from this just like Bud Light. I also won’t ever buy another Hershey product as they put trans on candy wrappers for children.
If you dig into the numbers what you really see is that Target as a store is dying and only Target as online sales is surviving:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/21/target-tgt-q1-2025-earnings.html
“Comparable sales declined by 3.8% in the quarter compared with the year-ago period, as comparable store sales fell 5.7% and digital sales grew 4.7%.”
In other words brick and mortar Target stores are doomed or at least most of them are. The future for Target (assuming there is any) is going to be in E-Commerce. Department stores are doomed in the long run.
Sure the CEO is blaming tariffs because he doesn’t want to look bad and knows it will buy him another quarter or two.
Agree with the demise of brick and mortar but it goes beyond that…..Here ya go….
https://sinhalaguide.com/target-ceo-trump-dei-backlash-paycut/
You also left out DEI as a reason.
Similar to the Canadian boycott of American products because of Trump, there has been a concerted effort by the DEI crowd to boycott Target.
I suspect as soon as Trump is out of office in 1340 days, DEI will be back on the table although it technically never left, most companies just renamed their DEI efforts.
In other more important news, 30 & 20 year bond yields continue to climb and stock market continues to tank. 100% trump/gop.
The vote on the big beautiful failure is tonight.
Japan’s government bond market is finally going “supernova” after more than two decades of central bank shenanigans. It would also appear that US Treasuries are no longer viewed as a “safe haven” asset. Gold has now assumed that role.
If Japan falls, the dominos will bring everything down so I’m wondering when the Fed/Treasury will open the taxpayer checkbook to bail them out.
It’s 2008 all over again.
Do you have a method to propose for measuring the negative impact on sales of DEI? Most of their customers favor it anyway.
Yeah, reading reddit threads to get a sampling.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Anticonsumption/comments/1k2z6nb/target_ceo_tries_to_act_fast_as_end_of_dei/
Only providing one link to avoid moderation but you can find a ton of threads just type “DEI and Target”
Here is another one.
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1k68se3/target_foot_traffic_down_10_consecutive_weeks/?chainedPosts=t3_1kivcvx
Google ‘Bud Light – Dylan Mulvaney’
The drunken sailors have maxed out their credit cards.