Target Corporation's net retail sales for the five weeks ended December 30, 2006 increased 9.9 percent to $9.254 billion from $8.420 billion for the five-week period ended December 31, 2005. On this same basis, comparable-store sales increased 4.1 percent from fiscal December 2005.
“Our December comparable store sales growth was in line with our expectations,” said Bob Ulrich, chairman and chief executive officer of Target Corporation.
Sales Total Sales Comparable Stores % Change
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(millions) % Change This Year Last Year
---------- ----------- ------------- ------------
December $9,254 9.9 4.1 4.7
Year-to-Date $52,982 11.1 4.8 5.6
Looking forward to January 2007, our fiscal month consists of five weeks, resulting in a 14-week fourth quarter and 53-week fiscal year, compared to four, thirteen and 52 weeks, respectively, in the year ended January 28, 2006. Because of this difference, our January 2007 sales release will report comparable store sales growth using two different methods.
* The first method will compare the five weeks ended February 3, 2007 to the four weeks ended January 28, 2006, consistent with the GAAP sales totals reported in Target's consolidated financial statements.
* The second method will compare the four weeks ended January 27, 2007 to the four weeks ended January 28, 2006. Management believes this comparison is the more useful measure in understanding Target's business trends.
Based on the four-week to four-week comparison, we expect Target's comparable store sales in January 2007 to increase in the range of 3.5% to 5.5%. For perspective, comparable store sales for the four week period in January 2006 increased 5.2%.
