What to Expect When Target Reports Wednesday Morning

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT | TGT Price Prediction) is scheduled to release its fiscal third-quarter financial results before the markets open on Wednesday. The consensus estimates are calling for $1.19 in earnings per share (EPS) and $18.49 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had $1.09 in EPS and $17.82 billion in revenue.

In the third quarter, Target said that it plans to hire 130,000 seasonal employees this year, about 10,000 more than it hired last year. Without specifying a number, the company said it planned to double the number of new hires who will be fulfilling digital orders from its brick-and-mortar stores.

Target’s chief human resources officer, Melissa Kremer, said: “It’s critical we build the right team across our stores and supply chain to deliver an exceptional holiday experience for our guests during the busiest time of the year.”

The company expects about 125,000 of the jobs to be added at its more than 1,800 stores. Included in that number are jobs filling orders placed online with specific stores. Another 8,000 jobs will be filled at Target’s distribution and fulfillment centers.

Of the thousands of seasonal workers Target hired last year, more than 40% of them stayed with the company as permanent employees.

Excluding Tuesday’s move, Target had outperformed the broad markets with about 69% gain year to date. In the past 52 weeks, the stock was up closer to 39%.

A few analysts weighed in on Target ahead of the report:

• UBS has a Neutral rating with a $112 target price.
• KeyCorp rates it as Overweight with a $130 price target.
• JPMorgan has an Overweight rating and a $130 price target.
• Nomura’s Buy rating comes with a $123 target price.
• Goldman Sachs has a Buy rating and a $110 price target.

Shares of Target traded down 1% on Tuesday, at $110.19 in a 52-week range of $60.15 to $114.83. The consensus price target is $115.89.

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