In an aerial view, a Target store is seen on August 11, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Target will report fiscal second-quarter earnings before the bell on Wednesday, as investors look for signs that the struggling discounter is getting back on track.
Here’s what Wall Street expects for the company’s most recent three-month period, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: $2.03 expectedRevenue: $24.93 billion expected
The Minneapolis-based retailer’s annual sales have been roughly stagnant for about four years. Shares of Target have tumbled about 60% from their all-time high in late 2021.
The big-box retailer’s problems have only compounded this year: store traffic has fallen almost every week since late January, according to Placer.ai, an analytics firm that uses anonymized data from mobile devices to estimate overall visits to locations. Target’s stock has dropped 22% in 2025 alone.
In interviews with CNBC, customers and former employees said Target has lost some of the unique traits that set it apart from competitors, such as its eye-catching merchandise, well-kept stores and attentive customer service.
Higher tariffs have added to Target’s challenges. About half of what Target sells is imported, the company has said.
And last week, Ulta Beauty and Target announced they are ending a deal that opened mini beauty shops in nearly a third of Target’s stores. The partnership, which also added Ulta’s beauty brands to Target’s website, will end in August 2026. Target had spoken about the addition of Ulta shops as a traffic-driver and a boost to its beauty category.
Despite the challenges, Target leaders, including CEO Brian Cornell, have stressed confidence in the company’s long-term outlook and its strategy to get back to its “Tarzhay” image. They have also spoken about driving growth with newer parts of the business, such as advertising.
Target cut its full-year sales outlook in May, blaming its weaker expectations on lower discretionary spending, consumer uncertainty about tariffs, and backlash to the company’s rollback of key diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Target said it expects a low-single-digit percentage point decline in sales this fiscal year and adjusted earnings per share, excluding gains from litigation settlements, to be about $7 to $9.
In May, the company also announced a few leadership shakeups and the creation of a new office intended to turn around its results. Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke will oversee the new effort, called the Enterprise Acceleration Office.
Target is on the cusp of a change at the top, too. CEO Brian Cornell is widely expected to leave the company. He agreed to stay in the role for about three more years after Target’s board scrapped the retirement age of 65 in September 2022.
