NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Target Corp. reported fourth-quarter earnings Thursday that beat Wall Street forecasts on the back of strong sales growth at its namesake Target discount chain.
Target (TGT: Research, Estimates) reported income of $832 million, or 91 cents a share, in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, compared to $688 million, or 75 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call forecast 87 cents a share for the quarter.
Revenue for the quarter rose 10.7 percent to $15.5 billion, compared to $14 billion in the same period a year ago and grew 9.7 percent to $48.1 billion for the full year. Comparable store sales for the quarter -- or sales at stores open at least a year -- increased 4.9 percent.
Comparable sales at the Target discount division rose 6.1 percent for the quarter but grew a disappointing 0.5 percent at Marshal Field's and fell 4.7 percent at its Mervyn's department store division.
In its earnings conference call with analysts Thursday, Target CFO Douglas Scovanner said the company is currently comfortable with the First Call analysts consensus estimates for a profit of 45 cents a share for the first quarter and a full-year profit of $2.27 a share.
"If we exceed those numbers, the outperformance will be due to stronger than expected results at out Target discount stores. A shortfall will be because of weakness in either Mervyn's or Marshall Field's, or both divisions," Scovanner said.
The retailer said it expects to open 95 new Target stores this year, including 25 new stores in March.
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