The ongoing battle against “woke” corporations is nearing the three-year mark, and conservatives have their sights set on one department store that hasn’t learned its lesson after previously being called out.
Target Corp., the vanguard of Pride Month clothing for children, is entering a winter of discontent after badly missing its earning mark right before the holiday season, sending its stock tumbling while shareholders fret about a much-needed change in leadership. CNBC reported that Target’s stock slipped at the opening bell after the company reported third-quarter earnings of $1.85 per share, missing the $2.30 consensus among 29 analysts covering the company. The revenue was 19.6% lower than anticipated and led to a 21% slide in the company’s share price.
In response, Target’s leadership has slashed full-year guidance after raising it the previous quarter, Yahoo reported. Adding insult to injury, Walmart beat expectations on Wednesday, posting outperformances in quarterly same-store sales performance, online sales growth, and overall narrative to investors. Target has been cutting prices on everything from groceries to home goods in a bid to stave off the bleed.
During a call with reporters, executives had little explanation for the slide other than to speculate that consumers are being “cautious” about their spending, a defense at odds with economic reports that consumer spending remains robust despite high costs. Target’s longtime Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell told Yahoo that supply chain disruptions played a role as warehouses overflowed with unsold inventory; still, he insisted, leadership has the “appropriate approach” for the holiday season, but is “guiding for some conservatism.”
On the year, Target’s stock is up just 9% compared to 24% for the broader S&P 500. Walmart has seen a skyrocketing advance of 64% in that time. “The stock seems constrained in the near term given the uncertainty of the holiday, in which Target faces headwinds from a promotionally/event-driven consumer and likely acutely benefitted, relative to other retailers, from the beneficial calendar a year ago (now a headwind), along with tariffs,” JPMorgan analyst Christopher Horvers wrote in a client note.
Horvers added: “Like they do so very often for retailers, comparable sales and gross margin matter, with the former a relatively low bar and the latter a high bar. Given uncertainty and share losses, we see Target as unlikely to roll forward to 2026 valuation anytime soon.”
Last summer was a low point for the retail giant as it suffered heavy losses in response to criticism of its children’s gear laid out for Pride Month, the traditional LGBT celebration in July. Viral videos proliferated on social media as customers discovered Pride gear sections that specifically marketed clothing to children, leading to outraged videos that fanned the flames. Conservatives, emboldened by boycotts of Bud Light, turned their ire toward Target, Ben & Jerry’s, and other companies like Chik-Fil-A, Skittles, and even the L.A. Dodgers, all of whom were accused of going “woke” in their appeals for new customers and fans.
Speaking with media at the time, Target CEO Brian Cornell pointed to inflation for dampening sales but also “negative guest reaction to our Pride collection,” claiming mid-quarter adjustments to reflect “safety concerns” helped the company recover some lost ground. A CNBC analyst summarized their predicament. “It’s just again seemingly caught in the middle of these culture wars in a way that did seem to impact sales,” they wrote.
