Target Financial Health Case Study

Within every organization there are advantages and disadvantages as well as strengthens and weakness. One of the biggest weaknesses of the Target Corporation is that all of their operations are located in the US. The organization would benefit more if they engaged in business with multinational countries. Wal-Mart has more than 11,000 retail stores in 27 multinational countries. If Target is ever going to move out of their second place position behind Wal-Mart there are going to need to expand globally. The Target Corporation is still trying to recover from the embarrassing financial disaster they made when they tried expanding their brand in Canada. Target spent 1.8 billion for 222 locations in Canada. Unfortunately, this merger

Company Profile Target Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Target Corporation operates general merchandise and food discount stores in the United States. It operates as two reportable segments: Retail and Credit Card. The company offers household essentials, including electronics, music, and toys; apparel and accessories; home furnishings as well as seasonal merchandise. It also sells its merchandise under private-label brands, such as Archer Farms, etc. Target Corporation operates in-store amenities, such as Target Caféand Target Clinic as well. Its marketing strategy includes selling its products on its online shopping site Target.com and its network of

Target Corporation was founded in 1902 in Minneapolis as the Dayton Dry Goods Company, though the first Target store was opened in 1962 in nearby Roseville, Minnesota. Not until 1995, was the first Super Target was built. In 1999 Target launched their website Target.com. Target grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, culminating in the company being renamed as Target Corporation in August 2000. The Corporation became a major retailing power house with $52.6 billion in revenues from 1,397 stores in 47 states by 2005. Realizing a 12.1% sales growth over the past five years target had announced plans to continue its growth by opening

Professor Thomas Piper prepared the original version of this note, “Assessing a Firm’s Future Financial Health,” HBS No. 201-077, which is being

Even though Target is ranked currently 36 in the fortune 500 companies and have over 1750 stores, they are still very susceptible to being a victim of a cyber attack. In 2013 Target fell victim to a security breach on their system. Roughly around Thanksgiving of 2013 someone had installed malware in Target’s security and payment system enabling the hackers to steal credit card and personal information. “Six months earlier the company began installing a $1.6 million malware detection tool made by the computer security firm FireEye, whose customers also include the CIA and the Pentagon.” (BloombergBusiness) In place was a very effective security system, but when the attacked happen on November 30, FireEye spotted the hackers and Bangalore, a third party cyber security company hired by Target alerted the IT team at corporate office in Minneapolis. There was no response from Target’s Corporate IT team and therefore led to the 40 million credit card numbers and 70 million addresses, phone numbers

The liquidity of firm can be measured by computing certain ratio’s such as current ratio and acid ratio. For measuring Target Corporation’s 2014 liquidity; the firm’s current ratio and the acid ratio is computed. The company’s current ratio is 0.91 times which is computed by comparing current asset ($11, 573,000) with current liabilities ($12,777, 000) of the year 2014 (TGT Company Financial, n.d). The firm’s acid ratio is 0.26 times which is computed by deducting inventory ($8,278,000) from current assets. The inventory is deducted from current assets because the company has not received any money for the unfinished good or from unsold inventory worth ($8,278,000). To analyze the Target Corporation’s liquidity trend in 2014; the current ratio and acid ratio of 2014 is compared with the 2015’s ratios. In 2015, the firm’s current ratio was 1.20 times and the acid ratio was 0.45 times. These liquidity ratios reflect that the firm’s liquidity was better in 2015 than 2014. (See Table 1).

Target was founded in 1902 first named Dayton Dry Goods Company by founder George D. Dayton (Target, 2015). After a lot of expansion and growth, Dayton Dry Goods was renamed to Target in 1961 after a mass marketing move to cater to value-oriented shoppers that wanted high quality items. In 1962, the Target bullseye symbol was adopted (Target, 2015). Over the years Target began to expand and grow throughout the entire United States. In 1983, Target was recognized for their community involvement (Target, 2015). Target has grown with technology as being the first mass merchandiser in 1983 to implement UPC scanning in their stores and distributors. In support of education, Target

The Target Corporation is a general merchandise retailer that opened up in in 1962 under the parent company of Dayton Corporation. This parent company was renamed the Target Corporation in 2000 and are based out of Minneapolis. There are over 1,800 Target stores throughout the United States which includes Targets and Super Targets. In 2005 Target began expansion in India and in 2011 to Canada however this expansion into Canada did not fare well and all Target Canada stores were closed by 2015. According to Forbes in 2005 they we ranked amongst the highest cash-giving companies in America with 2.1% given and they donate about 5% of its pre-tax operating profit. In 2010 Target was ranked number 22 by Fortune magazine’s World's Most Admired Companies.

Target Corporation is a retail chain specializing in household goods, clothing, food, and accessories at discounted prices. The retail chain’s history started back in 1902 as Goodfellows and in 1910 as The Dayton Company. Initially, the chain specialized in “furnishings, fabrics and decorations for business and other public institutions” (“Target Corporation,” 2016, p. 5). Eventually, Target went public in 1967 and on to acquire Mervyn’s in the 1970s where they became the seventh largest retailer in the United States. Target operates in the United States, where it is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and as of January 31, 2015 Target employs over 300,000 people. “The company recorded revenues of $72,618 million in the financial year ended January 2015, the operating profit of the company was $4,535 million, [and] the net profit was $2,449 million” (“Target

I choose to talk about the Target Corporation, because it is a franchise where consumers constantly shop at for their grocery, home décor, and bathroom essentials. The Target brand is in the general merchandise retailing industry and was first established in 1962. Target’s mission statement states: “Our mission is to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less. ® brand promise” (Target Corp., n.d.). The company’s mission statement implies that Target is a store where consumers can get products for a reasonable price. Target is performing well despite of their security breach problem a couple of years ago. It does not follow Pfeffer’s principles to the key, but it is a high performing organization. Their goal is to provide affordable prices at their different full-service department stores. Target has 1,556 stores and is the fourth largest retailer in America. It ranks as the second discount retailer in America only Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. stands in their way (Target Corp., n.d.). In 2011 Target acquired the Zellers retail chain, at a cost of $1.8 billion dollars to its international expansion (Target Corp., n.d.).

Target's book value (assets – liabilities) or net asset value, according to the financial statements, is $24,073 million (Target Corp. 10K). Target's market value ("the current quoted price at which investors buy or sell a share of common stock or a bond at a given time" – investopedia.com) is $45.27 billion (Forbes.com). According to investopedia.com market value also considers future growth potential.

In the year1962 the Target Organization was established by George Dayton who categories the organization as a concession retailer within the townships of Roseville, Minnesota. A decade later after the organization established it footing within the industry, the small subsidiary developed into the biggest division within The Dayton Corporation. The company advanced from a single discount store to earning its successes over the years from conventional leased superstore practices and discount vending, in addition to general retailing the

Target Corporation is having a very stable financial policy and dividend policy. From the historical financial data, Target had debt $11,044M, $11,202M, $10,599M, $17,471M, and $19,882M in the year of 2005,2006,2007,2008, and 2009 respectively. The long-term debt/equity ratio rises from 69.34% to 108%.

Target is an upscale discounter that provides high-quality, trendy merchandise at attractive prices in clean, spacious and guest-friendly stores. In addition, Target operates an online business, Target.com. It all started in 1902, when George Dayton joined in partnership with Goodfellow’s Dry Goods Company, the fourth biggest department store that is located in Minneapolis, MN. Dayton, wanting to be more involved in the company bought out Goodfellow’s to become sole owner and President of Dayton Dry Goods Company (Target Corporation, 2014). Travel on down through the years as Daytons continues to grow, until 1962. That was the year an icon was born, its name is “Target.”

Liquidity ratios measure the ability of a firm to meet its short-term obligations. A company that is not able