24/7 Wall St.

Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) is slightly lowering its comparable sales targets for October, no pun intended.  The company previously forecast a 3% to 5% gain for October sales, but now it said in its dial-up conference call recording that it sees sales coming in at a range of 2% to 4%.  The blame: "Greater than normal daily volatility and continued diappointing sales results…."

On September 11 it reported comparable sales of 1.2% gains for September and it said it believed that full year guidance would come in under $3.60 on an EPS basis.  Shares closed up 1.28% today, but shares are down 0.25% at $61.40 in after hours trading after initially indicating down almost 1%. 

It seems that Wall Street isn’t punishing slightly lower numbers from retailers as long as the numbers aren’t atrocious.  What is obvious is that many are still betting that Joe Q. Consumer won’t be quite as dead as the public always worries about.

Here was what 24/7 Wall St. thinks about Barron’s commentary on Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD) this weekend, and how we think it ties into Target Corp.

Jon C. Ogg
October 22, 2007