Ascena Retail Group, Inc. (ASNA, Financial) plummeted after the company reported its financial results for the second quarter. The company posted a loss of 12 cents per share on revenue of $1.72 billion, which was lower than the figure reported a year earlier. Moreover, the company fell short EPS expectations by 3 cents but beat analysts' estimates by $70 million in revenue.
David Jaffe, CEO of Ascena, said: “This past quarter marks the mid-point of our three-year Change For Growth enterprise transformation program, and we continue to make good progress across all three pillars of the program, cost takeout, capability enhancement, and the reinvigoration of our core business. We remain on track to achieve $300 million in cost savings by July 2019, and we are confident we will take this number higher as we move into the later stages of our transformation”.
Shares of Target Corp. (TGT, Financial) lost ground on the heels of the company reporting its financial results for the fourth quarter. The company posted an adjusted EPS of $1.37 per share. The company’s revenue of $22.77 billion was also higher than the figure reported a year ago, 10.1% year-over-year. Further, the company managed to beat revenue estimates by $240 million, but fell short analysts' estimates by 1 cent.
Looking ahead, the company expects for the next quarter a low-single digit increase in comparable sales, and GAAP EPS and Adjusted EPS between $1.25 and $1.45. For the full-year 2018, the company expects a low-single digit increase in comparable sales, and GAAP EPS and Adjusted EPS between $5.15 and $5.45.
Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target was pleased with quarterly results due to heavy investments made in 2017. Further, the team's execution of the company’s strategic initiatives was important drivers for traffic growth in stores and digital channels.
(Disclosure: The author holds no position in any stocks mentioned).
