Target Corp's (TGT, Financial) shares nosedived 20% on Wednesday after the company's third-quarter earnings failed to meet market expectations. This is expected to mark the largest one-day decline since July 2009. The retailer company earned $1.85 per share in the most recent quarter on $25.7 billion in revenue, below analyst projections of $2.30 per share and $25.9 billion.
CEO Brian Cornell blamed the gross on higher shipping costs due to diversion arising from a port strike and lower demand for non-essential products such as apparel and home goods. Overall traffic increased by 2.4%, while digital sales were up 10.8%, but total store sales were down by 1.7%.
This deep selloff is similar to Target's 25% decline in May 2022 due to its failure to lure the public even with large-scale discounts. Notably, shares in the retailer were up 9% year to date before Wednesday, far below the S&P 500's growth of 24.7%.
However, Walmart's (WMT, Financial) stock was up by 3%, which signified that retail behemoths are not experiencing similar performance. CA's sales concern indicates that consumer spending remains somewhat choosy.