Target shares skyrocketed on Wednesday after the big-box retailer reported earnings that blew past expectations ahead of the critical holiday shopping season.
Target ($TGT) beat on the top and bottom lines and showed eye-popping same-store sales growth of 4.5 percent. Comp sales are the most watched metric for retailers.
The company has been in the midst of a transformation of sorts, spending heavily on e-commerce, delivery logistics, and store renovations. And it's clearly paying off. Target CEO Brian Cornell said in a conference call that the quarterly earnings show "further proof of the durability" of that investment decision.
Coming on the heels of rival Walmart's earnings beat ー which was the result of a surging grocery business ー Target's numbers give more support to the theory that the U.S. consumer is carrying the tariff-battered American economy on its back. That theory will be given the ultimate test now, with the holiday shopping season about to officially begin. Target has said it will spend an additional $50 million on wages this quarter to ensure it has enough staff to deal with the holiday crush.
It will also be the first big test of Walmart's next-day delivery service. Target is offering free standard shipping on hundreds of thousands of items in a bid to lure customers away from Amazon. Cornell told CNBC that the company is improving on its shipping economics by sending more items directly from stores rather than fulfillment centers, which results in average savings of 40 percent per order.
Target wasn't the only big box to see its shares pop on earnings. Lowe's jumped after the home-improvement retailer beat expectations and raised guidance even though revenue fell short.
Peacock shared the trailer for the second season of the celebrity competition show, 'The Traitors.'
Darden, the parent company of chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, beat Wall Street estimates in its latest earnings report.
A former Facebook executive pled guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company while she was employed there.
Rising safety concerns over water bead products marketed to kids have prompted major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart to pull some toys off their shelves.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
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Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale.
