Target monthly sales beat expectations, raises outlook

MINNEAPOLIS Target reported that its net retail sales for the five weeks ended Oct. 3 were $5.4 billion, an increase of 1.3% from $5.32 billion for the five weeks ended Oct. 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. “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.”

Steinhafel added that due to stronger-than-expected retail segment EBIT margin combined with this improved sales trend, the company expects its third quarter EPS performance to exceed the current median FirstCall estimate of 43 cents.