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Target posts stellar fourth-quarter results

EPS hits all-time quarterly record; digital transactions account for two-thirds of total sales

Retailing giant Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) on Tuesday posted fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $2.67, an all-time quarterly record and well above analysts’ estimates of $2.54 per share.

Digital comparable sales for the Minneapolis-based retailer rose by 118% over the year-earlier period. Digital accounted for two-thirds of the company’s overall comp growth in the quarter, Target said. Comparable store sales rose 6.9%, the company reported.

Target’s same-day services, which include pickups of online orders at stores, drive-up pickups and its Shipt delivery services, rose 212% year-over-year. More than 95% of Target’s fourth-quarter sales were fulfilled by its stores, according to the company.

For the full year, revenue grew more than $15 billion to $92.4 billion. The 2020 top-line increase was more than the combined gains of the past 11 years, Target said.


For the quarter, revenue rose 21.1% to $28.3 billion, operating income jumped 53.2% to $1.83 billion and net income soared 65.6% to $3.3 billion, Target said.

Target shares rose 3% in early trading Tuesday, but then turned sharply lower by late morning.


Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.