Target's Financial Analysis

Target Corporation’s mission statement is to make their company the most sought after shopping destination by delivering a great guest experience with the most innovated technologies and quality merchandise. Target is the second largest general merchandise retailer in America. Target was founded by George Draper Dayton, in 1902, with the name Goodfellow Dry Goods. In 1903, Mr. Dayton changed the name to The Dayton Compay. Furthermore, the first Target store opened in 1962 in the Minneapolis, Minnesota which became the main headquarters. It grew to be the largest division of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation and was subsequently renamed the Target Corporation in 2000. Target anticipates staying ahead by challenging the company to be the most efficient and intellectual upscale company in the retail industry (Target Corporation, 2016).

“Target Corporation’s efficient marketing, multi-channel strategy, product innovation, compelling pricing strategy and new merchandise assortments, should help drive comparable-store sales and operating margins in the long term. We expect the company to gain market share, and believe that more focus on consumable items should boost sales and earnings in a sluggish consumer environment. (Zacks 1)” Zacks’ investment research analysis of the Target stock going forward indicates that Target focusing on consumable items, such as the food section in a Super-Target, could help benefit Target financially.

Gregg Steinhafel, Target’s Chief Executive Officer, chairman and president stated that “Target generated strong financial performance in 2011, overcoming sluggish economic growth, restrained consumer spending and an intensely promotional holiday season” (Target.com, 2012). Additionally, Steinhafel stated that “For the full year, our U.S. businesses generated 14.3 percent growth in adjusted earnings per share, and we experienced our strongest growth in comparable-store sales since 2007. As we look ahead to 2012, we’ll continue to focus on bringing our ‘Expect More. Pay Less’ brand promise to life for our guests, providing unique, well-designed merchandise while driving value and loyalty with initiatives like 5% Rewards and REDcard Free Shipping” (Target.com, 2012). In addition, Steinhafel stated that Target will continue to invest in the stores, online and their mobile channels. Also Target is preparing to open their open their first CityTarget locations in July 2012 and arrange for the opening of their first Canadian Target stores in the early months of 2013. (Target.com, 2012).

invested in target surged and created value for all stakeholders from 2005-2008. From 2005-2007, Target was able to effectively use the money it borrowed from investors and creditor to create value for the organization. This occurred because of a surge in economic activity from 2005-2007 (United States Department of Labor, 2011). Why did the ROIC take a down turn? What was the cause? According to the Wall Street Journal, Target Corp.’s credit-card portfolio hurt its performance in the recession, as delinquencies and defaults soared. The economic recession that began in 2007 was the main catalyst behind Targets decrease in ROIC. The company’s ROIC decreased through much of the recession. Target is able to maintain a surplus over the cost of capital from 2005-2009. The Weighted average cost of capital was almost parallel form 2005-2009.

Target Corporation is a large retail Corporation in the world with its headquarters in Minneapolis. The precursor of the Target Corporation is a famous retail corporation of the United States: "Dayton-Hudson Corporation" - established in 1918. First, Target is only a small portion of Dayton-Hudson Corporation. But by 2000, due to a number of changes, the Corporation was renamed the Target Corporation. It is the owners of subsidiaries like Target Financial Services, Target Sourcing Services, Target Commercial Interiors, Target Brands, and Target.com. Target Corporation organizes business with many stores such as Target or Super Target, which sell much different merchandise like clothing, jewelry, electronics, medicines and some groceries. Since the beginning of the 21st century, after rebuilding the brand new identity system, Target Corporation has continued to build more retail stores. Target Corporation has 1,764 stores across the United States and at Target.com. Target has grown and become the second largest retail group in the whole the United States - after Wal-Mart. Target Corporation has higher revenue and earning on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year season, which highly increase in working capital than other seasons. While Wal-Mart dominate the retail market with a low price, then Target succeeds in giving Target served customers with slogan “expect more, pay less” by encouraging diversity, providing great value, supporting the community, and protecting

Target Corp. started in 1902 as Dayton’s Dry Goods company. At 1911, Dayton’s Dry Goods is renames as Dayton Company, and commonly known as Dayton’s Department Store. In 1946 Dayton’s Department Stores started giving the community back 5% of their pretax profits, a practice that Target Corp still maintains. During the 1960’s Dayton’s create a new kind of store to appeal the masses called Target, opening the first Target store in the Twin Cities on May 1, 1962. The industry sector in which Target Corporation competes is in the retail sector reaching the $62.87 Billion in sales.

Target Corporation was founded under the name of Dayton Dry Goods Company by George Draper Dayton in 1902 and headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His store became known very soon for fair business, dependable merchandise and generous spirit of giving. He was active as president in the store´s management until his death in 1838. In 1916, the company becomes a founding member of the retails Research Association, which was cooperative of leading retailers. In 1969, they started to introduce a new way of business and they decided to do a new kind of mass- market discount store oriented to clients who want a higher- quality experience. Then, during the next years they made that idea official announcing that the company moved to a new

Target Corporation is an American retailing company that uses various retail formats that range from low-end to high-end items. It was founded in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It is now the fourth largest retailer in the United States and operates almost 1600 stores in 47 states (Funding Universe, 2004). Target differentiate themselves by other competitors by offering consumers fashion products and grocery at affordable prices, that drags the customers into purchasing more. A typical Target store averages from 145,000 square ft by 126,000 square ft. (Funding Universe, 2004). The stores are spacious, with a display of a grid format, which concludes in consumers shopping for items that are put on long gondolas so less space would be wasted.

Target Corporation is among one of the largest retailers in US with its headquarter located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company is recognized within the top 500 most valuable brands as of 2012 as well as the top 25 retail brands in 2012 (Target Corporation SWOT Analysis, 2013). Target took birth on May1, 1962 as a “new idea in discount stores”. Gregg W. Steinhafel is the current chairman, president and CEO of Target (www.corporate.target.com). The company has a vast product offerings such as- household essentials, including pharmacy, beauty, personal care, baby care, cleaning, and paper products; hardlines comprising music, movies, books, computer software, sporting goods, and toys, as well as electronics that consist of video game

Given that Target Corporation prides itself on being a discount retailer, it is inherit that there are certain built-in advantages over other retailers. This is especially true during challenging economic times. Target Corporation’s main goal is to provide higher quality products under their brand name at a discounted price. In comparison, Target’s two closest competitors, Wal-Mart and Costco, carry lower quality products as their brand name. Therefore, consumers who desire discount prices, but higher quality merchandise knows that Target is

The focus of our case study is Target Corporation, the second largest retailer in the United States. Target exists in a very competitive environment going up against other retailers such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart (Sears), and others. During this examination, we’ll review the 2014 shareholders report to examine the fiscal health of Target Corporation. We’ll make a comparison between their main competitors Sears and Wal-Mart in order to give an accurate picture of market performance. With the recent press of Target encountering a security breach with a hacking incident and the exit from the Canadian market, Target is a good example of how a Corporation deals with adversity while maintaining

Today, Target Corporation (Target) is engaged in providing everyday essential goods which are fashionable and differentiated at relatively discounted prices. The Company operates in two branches: United States and Canada. The Company has its own brands such as Archer Farms, Boots & Barkely,Gilligan & O 'Malley, Simply Balanced, Sutton & Dodge, Threshold, Merona, , Market Pantry, up & up, CHEFS, , Wine Cube, Circo, S Room Essentials, Smith & Hawken, Xhilaration, Spritz and Embark among others. In the United States alone, there are 1,795 Target stores with 38 distribution centres.

Despite Target’s problematic year in 2013 that consisted of a failed expansion into Canada and data breach, we regard the company to be a strong competitor in the industry as shown in the years prior to 2013. One of Target’s biggest competitors in the industry is Costco. Although both firms have similar capital structures, Costco is a more solvent company, as it has a higher current ratio, quick ratio, interest coverage ratio, receivables turnover ratio, and is therefore more comfortable in liquidizing its assets to meet obligations. Costco may be a good investment for a creditor who would like to loan money to company with a greater safety margin. Not only is Costco a more solvent company but it’s more profitable as well, outperforming Target in terms of its ROE, ROA, and EPS ratios. We regard Costco as a company with strong growth potential and therefore we advise stockholders to accumulate shares in Costco even though the market price of Costco’s stock is higher than Target’s. For a stockholder who currently possesses shares of Target, we suggest selling the shares to purchase stocks of Costco.

Target has done well over the years due to its successful integrated marketing communications. Today, Target is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, with $65.4 billion in sales and rank number 28 on the fortune 500 list. The main focus to build an up-market cachet of its brand without losing its relevance for price conscious consumers, Target positioned itself as a high-fashion brand retailers. Target aims to fulfil its brand promise of delivering trendy styles and quality merchandise at affordable low price by sending Merchandisers to travel over the world to look for next hot items. Target adopted Europe popular concept of ‘fast fashion’, which keep the product selection fresh result in more frequent shopper visits. To further enhance the shopper experience, Target uses a variety of tactics to communicate its ‘ cheap chic’ positioning, beginning with its slogan, ‘Expect more, Pay less’. Target also pays attention to how they place the shelves, lighting, fixtures and even creating wider aisles to avoid visual clutter.

This paper will give a summary of Target corporation versus Wal-Mart stores, Incorporated. In the following weeks it will compare the financial performances of these two companies, by evaluating circumstances such as the times interest earned, return on equity, return on assets and other factors. This paper will present an overview of the exchanges on which both company’s stock is traded. It will also present characteristics of that particular exchange which may have led the company to be listed there versus another exchange. This summary will also explain the types of securities both Wal-Mart and Target have outstanding, such as the bonds, preferred stock or the common stock and thus