Target Corporation reported that its net retail sales for the five weeks ended Jan. 2, 2010 were $9.74 billion, an increase of 5.0% from $9.28 billion for the five weeks ended Jan. 3, 2009. On this same basis, Dec. comparable-store sales increased 1.8%, compared to a 4.1% decline in the same period a year ago.
Quarter-to-date sales were up 3.7% on comp store gains of .6%, compared to a 6.6% comp store decline for the comparable period a year earlier.
“Dec. comparable-store sales were much better than expected, as stronger-than-anticipated guest traffic throughout the month drove sales growth in a broad array of merchandise categories, including apparel, electronics, toys, food, and health and beauty,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and CEO of Target Corporation. “These sales results underscore our guests’ continued confidence in Target’s strategy and position us to generate stronger-than-expected fourth quarter profit in our Retail Segment. Consistent with prior guidance, we expect credit card segment profitability to be somewhat lower than in recent quarters due to normal seasonality. In light of these expectations, we believe that our fourth quarter earnings per share will meet or exceed the current median First Call estimate of $1.11.”
