Target Corp total revenues up 9.2% to $14.041bn in Q1
23 May '07
3 min read
Target Corporation reported net earnings for the first quarter ended May 5, 2007 of $651 million, or 75 cents per share, compared with $554 million, or 63 cents per share in the first quarter ended April 29, 2006, representing a 19.6 percent increase in earnings per share. All earnings per share figures refer to diluted earnings per share.
"We are pleased with the strength of our first quarter results in both our core retail and credit card operations," said Bob Ulrich, chairman and chief executive officer of Target Corporation. "Our overall performance reinforces our confidence in our ability to continue to generate profitable market share growth for the full year 2007 and many years to come."
Total revenues in the first quarter increased 9.2 percent to $14.041 billion from $12.863 billion in 2006, reflecting a 4.3 percent increase in comparable-store sales combined with the contribution from new store expansion and from our credit card operations. (Total revenues include retail sales and net credit card revenues. Comparable-store sales are sales from stores open longer than one year.)
Earnings before interest and income taxes (EBIT) in the first quarter of 2007 increased 18.0 percent, to $1.200 billion, compared with $1.017 billion in the first quarter a year ago. Key contributors to this EBIT growth included improvement in both gross margin and expense rate performance, combined with strong profit growth in our credit card operations.
Net interest expense for the quarter increased $5 million compared with first quarter 2006 primarily due to higher average debt balances, including the debt to fund the growth in our accounts receivable.
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