Target Corporation's net retail sales for the five weeks ended October 3, 2009 were $5.39 billion, an increase of 1.3% from $5,32 billion for the five weeks ended October 4, 2008. On this same basis, September comparable-store sales decreased 1.7%.
“Sales for the month of September exceeded our expectations as the trend in our comparable transactions continued to improve,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Target Corporation. “As a result of stronger-than-expected retail segment EBIT margin combined with this improved sales trend, we expect our third quarter EPS performance to exceed the current median FirstCall estimate of 43 cents. In addition, we continue to experience credit card segment results in line with our expectations. While our outlook for the third quarter has improved, we remain cautious in our expectations for fourth quarter results in both of our business segments.” Earnings per share figures refer to diluted earnings per share.
