Source: courtesy of Target Corp.
On a GAAP basis, Target’s diluted EPS for the quarter totaled $0.66, which excludes costs related to the data breach the company experienced last November, among other things.
For the second quarter, Target guided adjusted EPS at $0.85 to $1.00. For the full year the company expects to post adjusted EPS of $3.60 to $3.90, a significant drop from the previous guidance of $3.85 to $4.155. The current consensus estimates calls for second-quarter EPS of $1.02 and full-year EPS of $3.98.
In the past two weeks the company has fired both its CEO and the president of its Canadian division. To say that Target is in turmoil may be a serious understatement. The company’s interim CEO said:
First quarter financial performance in both our U.S. and Canadian Segments was in line with expectations, reflecting the benefit of continued recovery from the data breach and early signs of improvement in our Canada operations. While we are pleased with this momentum, we need to move more quickly. As a result, we have made changes to our management team and are investing additional resources to drive U.S. traffic and sales, improve our Canadian operations and advance our ongoing digital transformation. We have updated our 2014 earnings expectations to reflect the impact of these investments …
The company also noted that it is unable to estimate future expenses related to the data breach:
Expenses may include payments associated with potential claims by the payment card networks for alleged counterfeit fraud losses and non-ordinary course operating expenses (such as card re-issuance costs), REDcard fraud and card re-issuance expense, payments associated with civil litigation, governmental investigations and enforcement proceedings, expenses for legal, investigative and consulting fees, and incremental expenses and capital investments for remediation activities. These costs may have a material adverse effect on Target’s results of operations in second quarter and full-year 2014 and future periods.
Same-store sales in the United States fell by 0.3% in the first quarter, compared with a drop of 0.6% in the same period a year ago. The number of transactions was also down by 2.3%, though the average transaction amount rose by 2.1%. In the first quarter a year ago, transactions were down 1.9% and the average transaction amount was up 1.3%.
Shares were up fractionally in premarket trading, at $56.65 in a 52-week range of $54.66 to $73.5. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $62.40 before these results were announced.
ALSO READ: Customers Sticking With Target
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