A miss in
Target’s
earnings is sending an arrow through the heart of the retail sector.
The company on Wednesday said comparable sales grew 3.3% in the quarter ended April 30, which was better than the 0.24% that analysts polled by Visible Alpha had expected. But while total revenue grew, net profit fell by more than a half. In the past five years, Target has missed Wall Street’s net income expectations only three other times, and the biggest shortfall so far had been by 3.5%. Wednesday’s was 31%.