Target suffers June same-store sales decline

MINNEAPOLIS Target reported net sales of $5.7 billion for the five weeks ended July 4, a decrease of 2.6% from $5.84 billion for the five weeks ended July 5. On this same basis, June comparable-store sales decreased 6.2 %.

"Sales for the month of June continued to reflect a very challenging economic environment. Consistent with our first quarter experience, however, we continue to mitigate the impact of a substantial portion of this sales shortfall on our profitability through better than expected gross margin rate and continued expense discipline in our retail segment,"  said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Target.

Steinhafel added that Target expects its second-quarter EPS performance to meet or exceed its estimate of 64 cents.