News

Fourth quarter earnings per share at Target advanced 17% to $1.45 compared with $1.24 the prior year, thanks to a seven-cent-a-share tax benefit, and quarterly profits were slightly more than $1 billion compared with $936 million the prior year. Fourth-quarter sales increased 2.8% to $20.3 billion compared with $19.7 billion the prior year and were aided by a 2.4% increase in same-store sales.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. reported on Wednesday that it has ended a three-year search for a permanent CEO, appointing a former technology executive with no retail experience as its new chief executive and president. The company name Lou D’Ambrosio to the position of president and CEO.

Dallas -- Zale Corp. said Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Jan. 31 surged to $27.2 million, compared with $6.7 million a year earlier.

Zale, which has struggled to regain profitability as the economy improves, posted net income of $27.2 million compared with $6.7 million, or 21 cents per share a year ago. Sales rose to $626.4 million for the quarter, from $582.3 million. Same-store sale rose 7.9%, compared with a decrease of 11.2% during the comparable period in the prior year.

Analysts don’t like surprises, especially the negative kind, where results are worse than forecast, so there wasn’t a lot of love for Walmart earlier this week after the company reported a disappointing 1.8% fourth quarter comp decline. Never mind that earnings per share exceeded consensus estimate by three cents, analysts were clearly peeved by the top line shortfall at the stores division, and having been burned by the company’s earlier guidance expressed little confidence in the company’s ability to deliver on its strategic objectives.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Jan. 29 rose 11% to $1.04 billion, helped by improved revenues and fewer write-offs of bad credit-card debt.

Retail sales increased 2.8% in the fourth quarter to $20.3 billion, from $19.7 billion in the year ago period. Same-store sales rose 2.4%. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast $20.76 billion in revenue.

It’s looking like Walmart could be in for an eighth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales, judging from the company’s first-quarter forecast, which contemplates the impact of internal and external forces on results. Official guidance calls for comps to be flat or decline 2% despite an easy comparison against the prior-year first quarter when comps declined 1.4%.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Thursday by Bloomberg found that consumer confidence for the week ended Feb. 20 rose to the highest level since April 2008 as Americans grew less pessimistic about their personal finances.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, formerly the ABC News U.S. Weekly Consumer Comfort Index, was minus 39.2 in the period to Feb. 20, compared with minus 43.4 the prior week, the report showed.

Nearly half (49%) of those polled held positive views on their financial situation, the most in a year.

YORK, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores announced the signing of a license and design agreement with Mambo Graphics PTY LTD for the exclusive launch of the Mambo brand in the United States. Under the agreement, Mambo will design the collection while Bon-Ton will manage the sourcing, manufacturing, distribution and marketing of the line.