Catenaa, Tuesday, March 04, 2025– Target reported reduced sales in the fourth quarter of 2024, the company reported on Tuesday, as sales fell by 3.1% from a year earlier with reduced consumer spending.
Target’s sales fell to $ 30.91 billion from $ 31.9 billion, but that beat expectations.
The net income of $1.1 billion, or $2.41 per share, far better than the $2.26 that Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey by FactSet.
That is down from the $1.38 billion profit the company reported in the same period last year, though the most recent quarter had one fewer week.
Full-year net sales decreased 0.8% to $106.6 billion from $107.4 billion last year, reflecting a 0.1% increase in comparable sales as well as the benefit of sales from new stores and growth in non merchandise revenues, offset by the impact of one fewer week of sales in 2024.
“Our team grew traffic and delivered better-than-expected sales and profitability in our biggest quarter of the year,” said Brian Cornell, chair and chief executive officer of Target Corporation. “Results were led by strong performance in Beauty, Apparel, Entertainment, Sporting Goods and Toys.
In the fourth quarter, comparable sales — those from stores and digital channels operating for at least 12 months — rose 1.5%. That was higher than the 0.3% gain during the third quarter. Target posted a 2% gain in the second quarter and a 3.7% drop in the first quarter.
“In light of ongoing consumer uncertainty and a small decline in February Net Sales, combined with tariff uncertainty and the expected timing of certain costs within the fiscal year, the Company expects to see meaningful year-over-year profit pressure in its first quarter relative to the remainder of the year,” the company said.
The retailer’s shares rose 4% before the opening bell on Tuesday.
