Investing.com - U.S. retail giant Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) reported lower-than-expected first quarter earnings, despite beating on revenue figures, it announced early on Wednesday.
Target said adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.70 cents in the first three months of the year, missing expectations for adjusted earnings of $0.71 cents per share.
The company’s first quarter revenue totaled $17.05 billion, above forecasts for revenue of $17.02 billion.
Target’s first quarter U.S. comparable sales fell 0.3%, compared to expectations for a decline of 1.1%.
“First quarter financial performance in both our U.S. and Canadian Segments was in line with expectations, reflecting the benefit of continued recovery from the data breach and early signs of improvement in our Canada operations,” said John Mulligan, Interim President and CEO, CFO of Target Corporation.
For the second quarter of 2014, Target expects adjusted earnings of $0.85 cents to $1.00 per share. For full-year 2014, Target expects adjusted earnings of $3.60 to $3.90 per share, compared with prior guidance of $3.85 to $4.15.
Following the release of the report, Target shares rose 0.4% in pre-market trade.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was mildly higher. The Dow pointed to a gain of 0.15% at the open, the S&P 500 added 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 indicated a rise of 0.2% at the open.