Target's Sales Up 10.7% To $11.3B

Minneapolis— Third quarter revenue at Target Corp. jumped 10.7 percent, to $11.3 billion, from $10.2 billion in the year-ago period.

These sales were driven by the company's Target Stores segment — which enjoyed increased fiscal third quarter sales and profit, while the department stores segment registered declining revenue and earnings.

Consolidated comp-store sales increased 4.3 percent, while net earnings climbed 8.7 percent, to $302 million, compared with $277 million in the same three months in 2002.

Consolidated Target sales in the third quarter received a big boost from the 13.9 percent revenue increase at the Target Stores segment, which notched $9.6 billion for the three months, ended Nov. 1, up from $8.5 billion year on year. Comp-store Target segment sales rose 6.7 percent in the third quarter, while pre-tax profit increased 12.5 percent, to $604 million, up from $537 million a year earlier.

At the same time, department store Mervyn's saw a 10.1 percent dip in third quarter sales, while Marshall Field's registered a 6.3 percent drop in third quarter revenue. Mervyn's third quarter pre-tax profit was off 41.8 percent, while Marshall Field's had a slide of 54.7 percent.

Consolidated Target revenue for the nine months increased 9.2 percent, to $32.6 billion, from $29.9 billion. Net earnings rose 4.4 percent, reaching $1 billion, up from $966 million in the same period a year ago.

Target Stores segment revenue of $27.9 billion for the nine months was an 11.7 percent increase over the $25 billion recorded in the same period a year earlier. Same-store sales climbed 3.5 percent. Nine-month pre-tax profit at Target rose 8.5 percent, to $2.1 billion, compared with $1.9 billion year over year.