Target Corp Q1earnings preview

Wednesday morning, before the market opens, Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) will be releasing its first quarter 2007 numbers. Analysts are expecting that the company will be announcing earnings per share of $0.71.

Last week, Target's main competitor, Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) reported Q1 earnings that failed to impress Wall Street and additionally was forced to lower its Q2 outlook. Both Wal-Mart and Target recently went through a very poor April sales month. When the company announced its weak April sales figures it did not offer any outlook on its current earnings, but did state that same store sales should come in as expected for the first quarter.

Will Target come through with strong earnings? We will just have to wait and see on Wednesday morning, but at this point analysts are betting that it will. Most of the losses the stock took following the weak April sales numbers has already been made up in the market, and out of the 23 analysts who follow the stock, 18 of these maintain a buy rating with the remaining five suggesting holds.

We will be liveblogging Target's investor conference call with up to the minute coverage of the call in its entirety. The call is scheduled to get underway Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM EDT. Be sure to visit us at that time for complete coverage.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor'sObserver.