Yahoo Finance Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript March 5, 2024
Target Corporation beats earnings expectations. Reported EPS is $2.98, expectations were $2.41. Target Corporation isn’t one of the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds at the end of the third quarter (see the details here).
John Hulbert: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our 2024 Financial Community Meeting. I'd like to start by welcoming the investors and others who are attending this meeting in person with us. And of course, we're happy that many, many more of you are attending the meeting remotely. Brian's going to kick off the meeting in a minute, but first I have a couple of important disclosures. First, any forward-looking statements that we make this morning are subject to risks and uncertainties, the most important of which are described in our SEC filings. And second, in today's remarks, we refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings per share. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are included in our financial press releases, financial presentations and SEC filings, which are posted on our investor relations website. With that, I'll turn it over to Brian to get things started.
Brian Cornell: Good morning, and thanks for joining us. We're looking forward to providing our perspective on the results we shared this morning, and I can't wait for you to hear from several of our top leaders, including Christina Hennington, Rick Gomez, Jill Sando, Cara Sylvester, and Michael Fiddelke. While Michael still has his hands firmly on the wheel as CFO, this is his first FCM in his new role as our Chief Operating Officer. I can tell you; we're looking forward to discussing Target's growth horizon and how it transcends volatility over any particular quarter or year. Our preference is always to think long term. It's why for years now, we've emphasized the durability of our business model. And many of you have validated that orientation in the conversations we've had with you over the years.
So, our session today will focus squarely on the long-term thinking that has driven top and bottom-line growth over the last decade and positions us for continued profitable growth in the years ahead. You might be asking, why focus on decades? In part, because that feels like a long enough time frame to be meaningful. But it's also because we look at longer horizons when evaluating growth potential for investments, like new stores, supply chain, and other assets. And it's good to ask, what else would need to be true for those investments to succeed? So, we'll analyze our 2023 performance in that context. We'll provide insights on how our 2024 plans and guidance fit into that vision and we'll spend time outlining our plan for sustained growth as well as our capacity to react to unforeseen realities.
Both have been important over the last 10 years. By designing for steady growth before 2020, we were positioned to absorb exponential growth during a demand boom that none of us could have anticipated. Even now, the country and the retail industry are in a prolonged post pandemic return to normal, which has been nearly as unpredictable as the pandemic itself from a consumer, social, political and economic perspective. By staying agile as a team, and by continuously refining our approach and innovating, we've been able to navigate this time frame. In fact, if you think back to our earlier algorithms and long-range plans, we're well ahead of where we believe we'd be just a few short years ago. At the same time, we recognize this is a unique moment to clarify our road map for growth.
Let me be really clear. Our goal is to recapture profitable sales, traffic, and market share gains by expanding what makes Target different and better for our guests, amplifying our appeal to consumers beyond our existing guest base, and reinforcing the innovation and investment that drive durable and consistent results for our business and shareholders. So, I might start today with the elements of the overall strategy that have been staples all along, and will continue to be staples going forward. Starting with our stores, the most visible and tangible proof of our long-term planning and investment. When I arrived at Target, we had just over 1800 stores that didn't quite cover all 50 states. Since then, we built more than 200 new stores. We've invested in more than 1200 existing locations through remodels and partnerships and our store footprint has expanded to cover the entire U.S. While retail is decades in the new digital era, on any given day 2/3 to 3/4 of all U.S. shopping is still done in stores.
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