Retail Winners & Losers: Earnings

(TheStreet) -- Retailers reported mixed earnings results on Thursday, leaving the S&P Retail Index nearly flat. Target TGT saw its profit rose 11%, send shares gaining in afternoon trading. The discounter reported a profit of $1.04 billion, or $1.45 a share, compared with $936 million, or $1.24 a share, a year ago. The most recent quarter's results included a tax benefit of 7 cents a share. Sales grew nearly 3% to $20.3 billion, while same-store sales advanced 2.4%. This is in contrast to Wal-Mart WMT, which earlier in the week reported its seventh consecutive decline in U.S. same-store sales. Target attributes some of this sales gain to its roll-out of its discount loyalty in October. Its RedCard gives users a 5% discount on most purchases. Wall Street expected a profit of $1.39 a share on revenue of $20.76 billion. Target's credit card segment nearly quadrupled its profit to $151 million and receivables fell 15%to $6.9 billion. Continue reading the article.