Slower growth means more cash

With fewer new stores opening this year and next, and share repurchase activity on hold, Target stands to more rapidly accumulate a stockpile of cash. The company’s capital budget this year will fall within a range of $2 billion to $2.5 billion, well below last year’s levels, and the suspension of share repurchase activity means, “that we are likely to enjoy one of our strongest years ever in generation of free cash flow,” according to CFO Doug Scovanner. “Specifically, I expect Target to again generate more than $4 billion in cash from operation in 2009.”