Discount retailer Target (NYSE: TGT), which operates more than 1,900 stores in the United States and Canada, has fallen more than 20% since its summer highs. The selling has been especially pronounced since the company announced, on Jan. 10, that the massive credit card breach that occurred during the holiday shopping season was even worse than originally reported. In addition to the original 40 million people that had card numbers stolen, up to 70 million had their personal information compromised in some way. TGT sold off more than 13%, hitting a new 52-week low of $54.66… Read More
Discount retailer Target (NYSE: TGT), which operates more than 1,900 stores in the United States and Canada, has fallen more than 20% since its summer highs. The selling has been especially pronounced since the company announced, on Jan. 10, that the massive credit card breach that occurred during the holiday shopping season was even worse than originally reported. In addition to the original 40 million people that had card numbers stolen, up to 70 million had their personal information compromised in some way. TGT sold off more than 13%, hitting a new 52-week low of $54.66 on Feb. 5 before recovering slightly. #-ad_banner-#In my opinion, the breach did not warrant such a big drop. (My colleague Marshall Hargrave offered a similar take last month.) And in addition to the market’s overreaction, keep in mind that TGT was caught up in the broader market selling that hit almost all equities in the latter half of January. On the fundamental side, TGT’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 15 is in line with the SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY), and its forward P/E is just over 13. Additionally, its price/sales (P/S) ratio of 0.49 is superb. The company pays… Read More