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 Target, whose shares were down 2.5 percent at $57.75 in premarket
trading on Wednesday, cut its full-year adjusted profit forecast to
$3.10-$3.30 per share from $3.60-3.90.
The company cut its earnings estimate for the second quarter earlier
this month, saying a pullback in consumer spending had led to weak
sales.
The profit announced on Wednesday matched the company's estimate
released on Aug. 5.
Target also said then that the data breach, which resulted in the
theft of at least 40 million payment card numbers and 70 million
other pieces of customer data, had cost it a net $111 million so far
after taking insurance into account.
The company did not provide an updated figure on Wednesday.
Sales at U.S. mass merchandisers such as Target and Wal-Mart Stores
Inc <WMT.N> have been hit as consumers struggling with stagnant
wages and higher taxes reduce spending.
On top of that, Target has also run up big losses in Canada where
its ambitious expansion has stumbled due to supply chain issues and
a backlash from consumers who had expected prices to be more in line
with those in the United States.
Target said its net profit fell to $234 million, or 37 cents per
share, in the three months ended Aug. 2, from $611 million, or 95
cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the company earned 78 cents per share.
Total sales rose 1.7 percent to $17.41 billion, while sales at
stores open for at least a year were flat.
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Analysts on average expected earnings of 79 cents per share, on
revenue of $17.38 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Of the 29 retailers that had reported second-quarter earnings as of
Tuesday, 45 percent had missed the average analyst estimate, 38
percent exceeded and 17 percent were in line, according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S.
For revenue, 54 percent missed the average estimate while 46 percent
same out ahead. (http://tmsnrt.rs/1pdvdgW)
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in Bangalore; Editing by Ted Kerr)
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