Reuters: Global Markets: Target quarterly profit tops forecasts

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Target quarterly profit tops forecasts Nov 15th 2012, 13:40 Tweet Share this Email Print Related News Wal-Mart sales miss Wall Street view, shares down 8:58am EST UPDATE 4-Abercrombie shares soar as inventory issues wane Wed, Nov 14 2012 Abercrombie & Fitch posts higher profit, shares jump Wed, Nov 14 2012 Best Buy sets long-term targets, aims for stable sales Tue, Nov 13 2012 CORRECTED-UPDATE 5-Best Buy sets long-term targets, aims for stable sales Tue, Nov 13 2012 Analysis & Opinion Sampo posts weaker-than-expected profit due to claims AOL: Down so long, it’s starting to look up Related Topics Investing Simplified » Hot Stocks » Asian Markets » A Target employee returns carts to the store in Falls Church, Virginia May 14, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Thu Nov 15, 2012 8:40am EST (Reuters) - Target Corp's quarterly profit beat Wall Street forecasts as the discount chain lured shoppers with a wider variety of food products and 5 percent discounts for its cardholders. Target said it had earned $637 million, or 96 cents per share, in the third quarter ended on October 27, up from $555 million, or 82 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding a gain from the pending sale of its credit card receivables, the profit was 81 cents per share, 4 cents more than what Wall Street analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company said it expected to earn between $1.45 and $1.55 a share in the holiday quarter, including expenses linked to its entry into Canada next year. That compares with analysts' forecasts of $1.51. Target previously said third-quarter sales had increased 3.4 percent to $16.60 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year were up 2.9 percent. That came largely from higher prices and customers' buying more items per transaction. Adding more food to the stores and offering a 5 percent discount to cardholders has attracted shoppers but also weighed on profit rates. Gross margin during the quarter slipped 0.2 points to 30.3 percent of sales. Target said 14 percent of sales during the quarter were paid for with its debit and credit cards, compared with 9.5 percent a year earlier. The company has been opening smaller city stores and is set to open its first Canadian stores in 2013. It will also sell a line of holiday goods with upscale department store Neiman Marcus Group Inc in December. Shares of Target were up 1 percent at $62 in premarket trading. (Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Von Ahn) Related Quotes and News Company Price Related News Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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